Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)

Last updated

Violin Concerto
by Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.jpg
Mendelssohn in 1846 by Eduard Magnus
Key E minor
Opus 64
Year1844 (1844)
Period Romantic
Genre Concerto
Composed1838 (1838)–1844
Movements3
ScoringViolin and orchestra
Premiere
Date13 March 1845 (1845-03-13)
Location Leipzig

Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, MWV O 14, is his last concerto. Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos. It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. [1] [2] [3] A typical performance lasts just under half an hour.

Contents

Mendelssohn originally proposed the idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and then concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, who gave him many suggestions. The work itself was one of the foremost violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential on many other composers.

Although the concerto consists of three movements in a standard fast–slow–fast structure and each movement follows a traditional form, it was innovative and included many novel features for its time. Distinctive aspects include the almost immediate entrance of the violin at the beginning of the work (rather than following an orchestral preview of the first movement's major themes, as was typical in Classical-era concertos) and the through-composed form of the concerto as a whole, in which the three movements are melodically and harmonically connected and played attacca (each movement immediately following the previous one without any pauses).

Many violinists have recorded the concerto and it is performed in concerts and classical music competitions. It was recorded by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic as an album and released as the first LP record upon the format's introduction in 1948. [4]

History

Ferdinand David, the violinist who premiered the piece and whose collaboration was essential for the concerto's birth Ferdinand david.jpg
Ferdinand David, the violinist who premiered the piece and whose collaboration was essential for the concerto's birth

Following his appointment in 1835 as principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, [5] Mendelssohn named his childhood friend Ferdinand David as the orchestra's concertmaster. [6] The work's origins derive from this professional collaboration. In a letter dated 30 July 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to David: [7] [8]

I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace.

The concerto took another six years to complete. [9] There are many possible reasons for the delay, including self-doubt, [10] his third symphony [11] and an unhappy period in Berlin after a request from King Frederick William IV of Prussia. [12] Nevertheless, Mendelssohn and David kept up a regular correspondence during this time, [7] with Mendelssohn seeking technical and compositional advice. [9] Indeed, this violin concerto was the first of many to have been composed with the input of a professional violinist, and would influence many future collaborations. [11] The autograph score is dated 16 September 1844, but Mendelssohn was still seeking advice from David until its premiere. [6] The concerto was first performed in Leipzig on 13 March 1845 with Ferdinand David as soloist. Mendelssohn was unable to conduct due to illness and the premiere was conducted by the Danish composer Niels Gade. [13] Mendelssohn first conducted the concerto on 23 October 1845 again with Ferdinand David as soloist. [13]

An autograph manuscript of the concerto re-emerged in 1989 in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków, leading to some scholarly scepticism of the veracity of Breitkopf & Härtel's 1862 edition of the published score. Some notable differences include the tempo character of the first movement being handwritten as "Allegro con fuoco" (meaning: with fire) rather than the published "Allegro molto appassionato" (very impassioned) as well as significant differences in the solo violin's passage-work. [14]

Instrumentation

The concerto is scored for solo violin and a standard orchestra of its period, consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, two natural horns, two natural trumpets, timpani, and strings. [3] [13]

Movements

The concerto consists of three movements with the following tempo markings:

  1. Allegro molto appassionato (E minor)
  2. Andante (C major)
  3. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace (E major)

Allegro molto appassionato

12–14 minutes

Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)
I. Allegro molto appassionato
Performed by the Hankyung Arte Philharmonic

Instead of an orchestral tutti, the concerto opens with the almost immediate entry of the solo violin, playing the very tune in E minor that gave Mendelssohn no peace. [9] Following a bravura of rapidly ascending notes, the opening theme is then restated by the orchestra. [15] There is then a frenetic chromatic transition passage [16] as the music subsides and modulates into a tranquil second subject theme in G major. [10] The melody is initially played by the woodwinds with the soloist providing a pedal note on an open G string. [17] The tune is played by the solo violin itself before a short codetta ends the exposition section of the opening movement. The opening two themes are then combined in the development section, where the music builds up to the innovative cadenza, which Mendelssohn wrote out in full rather than allowing the soloist to improvise. [6] The cadenza builds up speed through rhythmic shifts from quavers to quaver-triplets and finally to semiquavers, [10] which require ricochet bowing from the soloist. [18] This serves as a link to the recapitulation, where the opening melody is played by the orchestra, accompanied by the continuing ricochet arpeggios by the soloist. During the recapitulation, the opening themes are repeated with the second theme being played in the E major before returning to E minor for the closing of the movement. The music gathers speed into the coda, which is marked "Presto", [18] before a variant of the original chromatic transition passage ends the first movement.

Andante

7–9 minutes

Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)
II. Andante

The bassoon sustains its B from the final chord of the first movement before moving up a semitone to middle C. [19] This serves as a key change from the E minor opening movement into the lyrical C major slow movement. The movement is in ternary form and is reminiscent of Mendelssohn's own Songs Without Words . [10] The theme to the darker, middle section in A minor [10] is first introduced by the orchestra before the violin then takes up both the melody and the accompaniment simultaneously. The tremulous accompaniment [19] requires nimble dexterity from the soloist before the music returns to the main lyrical C major theme, this time leading towards a serene conclusion.

Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace

6–7 minutes

Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)
III. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace

Following the second movement, there is a brief fourteen-bar transitional passage in E minor for solo violin and strings only. [18] This leads into the lively and effervescent finale, the whole of which is in E major and whose opening is marked by a trumpet fanfare. [20] This movement is in sonata rondo form [21] with an opening theme requiring fast passage work from the soloist. The opening exposition leads into a brief second B major [10] theme which is played by the soloist and builds to a series of rapidly ascending and descending arpeggios, reminiscent of the cadenza from the first movement. The orchestra then plays a variation of the opening melody, after which the music moves into a short development section in G major. [10] The recapitulation is essentially similar to the exposition, apart from the addition of a counter-melody in the strings. The second theme is repeated, this time in the home key of E major. There is almost a small cadenza near the end of the movement when the woodwinds play the main tune against prolonged trills from the solo violin. [10] The concerto then concludes with a frenetic coda.

Analysis

The concerto is innovative in many respects. In the first movement alone, Mendelssohn departs from the typical form of a Classical concerto in many ways, the most immediate being the entry of the soloist almost from the outset, which also occurs in his First Piano Concerto. [9] Although the first movement is mostly in the conventional sonata form, Mendelssohn has the first theme played by the solo violin and then by the orchestra. Classical concertos typically opened with an orchestral introduction followed by a version of essentially the same material that incorporates the soloist. [15]

The cadenza is also novel in that it is written out as part of the concerto [21] and located before the recapitulation. [22] In a typical Classical concerto, the cadenza is improvised by the performing soloist and occurs at the end of a movement, after the recapitulation and just before the final coda. Mendelssohn's written cadenza was not included in the first published version of the concerto, but instead a "streamlined" version by Ferdinand David without the contrapuntal complexity of the original. This is the most played version today, although some artists, e.g. Arabella Steinbacher, play Mendelssohn's original. [23] Joshua Bell performs the concerto with his own cadenza. [24]

The violin concerto stands out from previous concertos with its connected movements. [10] There is no break between the first and second movements, with a bassoon note held between the two. [22] The bridging passage between the last two movements begins almost immediately after the slow movement. The melody is similar to that of the opening, which hints at the cyclic form of the piece. [25] The linking was designed to eliminate applause between movements. This would have come as a surprise to Mendelssohn's audience, who, unlike today's, were used to applauding between movements. [19]

The concerto also calls on the soloist to function as an accompanist to the orchestra for extended periods, such as the ricochet arpeggios at the start of the recapitulation. This too was novel for a violin concerto of its time. [10]

Legacy

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto influenced the concertos of many other composers, who adopted aspects of it in their own concertos. [26]

For example, the unusual placement of the cadenza before the recapitulation is reflected in the violin concerto of Tchaikovsky (where the cadenza is similarly placed) and the violin concerto of Sibelius (where the cadenza serves to extend the development section). [27] Moreover, following this concerto it was very rare for a composer to leave a cadenza unwritten for the soloist to improvise as in the days of Mozart and Beethoven. [28] The linking of the three movements also influenced other concertos, such as Liszt's Second Piano Concerto. [29]

The concerto itself was an instant success, warmly received at its premiere and well received by contemporary critics. [30] By the end of the nineteenth century, the piece was already considered one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire. [31] It would become one of Mendelssohn's most popular pieces, and was still regularly performed even when interest in his music declined in the early twentieth century. [32] In 1906, the year before his death, the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party: [13]

The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.

The work has developed a reputation as an essential one for aspiring violin virtuosi to conquer. [33] This has led to its becoming virtually ubiquitous in the discography of concert violinists, even including those who were only active at the very dawn of recorded sound and of whom very little recorded music exists, such as Eugène Ysaÿe. [34] Even so, it remains technically challenging and is generally considered to be as difficult as many other famous counterparts. [35]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadenza</span> Improvised solo between musical sections

In music, a cadenza, is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display. During this time the accompaniment will rest, or sustain a note or chord. Thus an improvised cadenza is indicated in written notation by a fermata in all parts. A cadenza will usually occur over either the final or penultimate note in a piece, the lead-in, or the final or penultimate note in an important subsection of a piece. A cadenza can also be found before a final coda or ritornello.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Beethoven)</span> Concerto composed by Beethoven in 1806

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1806. Its first performance by Franz Clement was unsuccessful and for some decades the work languished in obscurity, until revived in 1844 by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Joachim would later claim it to be the "greatest" German violin concerto. Since then it has become one of the best-known and regularly performed violin concertos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)</span> 1878 concerto by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 was the only concerto for violin composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Composed in 1878, it is one of the best-known violin concertos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Sibelius)</span> Concerto in three movements by Jean Sibelius

The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 of Jean Sibelius, originally composed in 1904 and revised in 1905, is the only concerto by Sibelius. It is symphonic in scope and included an extended cadenza for the soloist that takes on the role of the development section in the first movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)</span> Beethovens last completed piano concerto

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, is a piano concerto composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven composed the concerto in 1809 under salary in Vienna, and he dedicated it to Archduke Rudolf, who was his patron, friend, and pupil. Its public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist and Johann Philipp Christian Schulz conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Beethoven, usually the soloist, could not perform due to declining hearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)</span> Work by Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is always thought to have been composed in 1800, although the year of its composition has been questioned by some contemporary musicologists. It was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered. The composition was published in 1804, and was dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. The first primary theme is reminiscent of that of Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto, also in C minor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)</span> Concertante work by Mozart

The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on 11 February 1785, with the composer as the soloist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 1 (Mendelssohn)</span>

Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, was written in 1830–31, around the same time as his fourth symphony, and premiered in Munich on 17 October 1831. This concerto was composed in Rome during a travel in Italy after the composer met the pianist Delphine von Schauroth in Munich. The concerto was dedicated to her. Mendelssohn attended one party after another in Munich in October 1831, the month of the premiere, but he also played chamber music and taught double counterpoint. He performed the piece himself at the premiere, which also included performances of his Symphony No. 1 and the Overture from Midsummer Night's Dream. He had already written a piano concerto in A minor with string accompaniment (1822) and two concertos with two pianos (1823–24).

Sergei Prokofiev began his Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, as a concertino in 1915 but soon abandoned it to work on his opera The Gambler. He returned to the concerto in the summer of 1917. It was premiered on October 18, 1923 at the Paris Opera with Marcel Darrieux playing the violin part and the Paris Opera Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Igor Stravinsky made his debut as conductor at the same concert, conducting the first performance of his own Octet for Wind Instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)</span> Composition by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23, was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in 1879 and in 1888. It was first performed on October 25, 1875, in Boston by Hans von Bülow after Tchaikovsky's desired pianist, Nikolai Rubinstein, criticised the piece. Rubinstein later withdrew his criticism and became a fervent champion of the work. It is one of the most popular of Tchaikovsky's compositions and among the best known of all piano concerti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 21 (Mozart)</span>

The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed on 9 March 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous D minor concerto, K. 466.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)</span> Violin concerto by W. A. Mozart

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. In a letter to his father, Mozart called it the "Straßburg-Concert". Researchers believe this epithet comes from the motive in the third movement's Allegretto in the central section, a local dance that already had appeared as a musette-imitating tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 2 (Beethoven)</span> Classical orchestral work by Beethoven

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed primarily between 1787 and 1789, although it did not attain the form in which it was published until 1795. Beethoven did write a second finale for it in 1798 for performance in Prague, but that is not the finale that was published. It was used by the composer as a vehicle for his own performances as a young virtuoso, initially intended with the Bonn Hofkapelle. It was published in December 1801 as Op. 19, later than the publication in March that year of his later composition the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major as Op. 15, and thus became designated as his second piano concerto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)</span> Orchestral work by Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15, was written in 1795, then revised in 1800. It was possibly first performed by Beethoven at his first public concert in Vienna on 29 March 1795. It was first published in 1801 in Vienna with dedication to his pupil Princess Anna Louise Barbara Odescalchi, known to her friends as "Babette".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)</span> Concertante work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, is a concerto composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for keyboard and orchestra. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786, finishing it on 24 March 1786, three weeks after completing his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major. As he intended to perform the work himself, Mozart did not write out the soloist's part in full. The premiere was in early April 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Chronologically, the work is the twentieth of Mozart's 23 original piano concertos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Dvořák)</span>

The Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, is a violin concerto composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1879. It was premiered in Prague on 14 October 1883.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach</span> For harpsichord/organ, strings and continuo; BWV 1052–1065

The keyboard concertos, BWV 1052–1065, are concertos for harpsichord, strings and continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach. There are seven complete concertos for a single harpsichord, three concertos for two harpsichords, two concertos for three harpsichords, and one concerto for four harpsichords. Two other concertos include solo harpsichord parts: the concerto BWV 1044, which has solo parts for harpsichord, violin and flute, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, with the same scoring. In addition, there is a nine-bar concerto fragment for harpsichord which adds an oboe to the strings and continuo.

Carl Maria von Weber wrote his Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73 for the clarinettist Heinrich Bärmann in 1811. The piece is highly regarded in the instrument's repertoire. It is written for clarinet in B♭. The work consists of three movements in the form of fast, slow, fast. It was premiered in Munich on 13 June 1811, with Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in attendance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings (Mendelssohn)</span> 1823 composition by Felix Mendelssohn

The Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Strings in D minor, MWV O4, also known as the Double Concerto in D minor, was written in 1823 by Felix Mendelssohn when he was 14 years old. This piece is Mendelssohn's fourth work for a solo instrument with orchestral accompaniment, preceded by a Largo and Allegro in D minor for Piano and Strings MWV O1, the Piano Concerto in A Minor MWV O2, and the Violin Concerto in D minor MWV O3. Mendelssohn composed the work to be performed for a private concert on May 25, 1823 at the Mendelssohn home in Berlin with his violin teacher and friend, Eduard Rietz. Following this private performance, Mendelssohn revised the scoring, adding winds and timpani and is possibly the first work in which Mendelssohn used winds and timpani in a large work. A public performance was given on July 3, 1823 at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Like the A minor piano concerto (1822), it remained unpublished during Mendelssohn's lifetime and it wasn't until 1999 when a critical edition of the piece was available.

The Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, is a concerto for harpsichord and Baroque string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. In three movements, marked Allegro, Adagio and Allegro, it is the first of Bach's harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1065.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC Mendelssohn Profile" . Retrieved 26 April 2007.
  2. ↑ Dane, J. "Facility & Mastery: Felix Mendelssohn". University of Chicago. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  3. 1 2 Mendelssohn, F. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, Dover Miniature Scores (1999)
  4. ↑ Murphy, Colleen "Cosmo" (n.d.). "The Art of the Album Part One". Classic Album Sundays. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Mercer-Taylor (2004), p. xxi
  6. 1 2 3 "Ferdinand David", The Musical Times , Vol. 47, No. 761
  7. 1 2 Dr. Rietz, J. Letters of Felix Mendelssohn, 1833–1847, Ayer (1970)
  8. ↑ Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix; Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Paul; Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Karl; Rietz, Julius (1863). Briefe aus den Jahren 1830 bis 1847 (in German). Vol. 2. Getty Research Institute. Leipzig: H. Mendelssohn. p. 174.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Lindeman (2004), p. 127
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Keefe (2005), p. 126
  11. 1 2 Steinberg (1998), p. 266
  12. ↑ Jacobson, J. H. The Classical Music Experience, Sourcebooks, Inc. (2002)
  13. 1 2 3 4 Steinberg (1998), p. 265
  14. ↑ Stowell, Robin (26 July 2001). The Early Violin and Viola: A Practical Guide. Cambridge University Press. p. 152. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511481833. ISBN   978-0-521-62555-5 . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  15. 1 2 Steinberg (1998), p.267-68
  16. ↑ Steinberg (1998), p. 268
  17. ↑ Kerman (1999), p. 91
  18. 1 2 3 Mendelssohn, F. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, Bärenreiter (2005)
  19. 1 2 3 Steinberg (1998), p. 269
  20. ↑ Steinberg (1998), p. 270
  21. 1 2 Lindeman (2004), p. 128
  22. 1 2 Stowell (1992), p. 156
  23. ↑ Program notes Archived 9 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine , New York Philharmonic, October 2013
  24. ↑ Program notes Archived 9 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine , New York Philharmonic, December 2015
  25. ↑ Wilson, Conrad (2005). Notes on Mendelssohn: 20 Crucial Works. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN   978-0802829955.
  26. ↑ Stowell (1992), p. 159
  27. ↑ Keefe (2005), p. 129
  28. ↑ Kerman (1999), p. 72-73
  29. ↑ Keefe (2005), p. 109
  30. ↑ Mendelssohn, F. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, Eulenberg Miniature Scores
  31. ↑ Keefe (2005), p. 104
  32. ↑ Mercer-Taylor (2004), p. 253
  33. ↑ Reel, J. "All Things Strings: Give it a Break". Strings Magazine (147). Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  34. ↑ Monsaingeon, B. (Director) and NVC Arts Great Performances – The Art of the Violin, Warner Music Vision [DVD] (2000)
  35. ↑ "Violin Masterclass' Graded Repertoire". Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.