In this session we'll take a closer look at the music of Idealist composers. Idealists tended to see instrumental works as pure musical art to be appreciated for their creative technique and design. Others regarded instrumental music as innately spiritual and therefore linked to a higher realm; that is, a more evolved form of discourse than visual art and language. These composers often viewed themselves as the illuminati of culture. Beethoven commented on this matter:
“I must despise a world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”
Romantic Idealist composers embraced an international style, mainly German Romanticism, and used generic titles—e.g., Sonata Op. 10 No. 9—and traditional forms of the Classical era. Absolute music often used tempo indications in lieu of titles for the movements of multi-movement works such as symphony, sonata and concerto. For example, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64 exhibits typical absolute music title and movement monikers:
1. Allegro molto appassionato
2. Andante
3. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace
We will examine absolute music from one of the nineteenth century's finest Idealist composers, Felix Mendelssohn.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was one of the mid-nineteenth century's finest Idealist composers. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a wealthy and prominent Jewish family, his father, Abraham Mendelssohn, a banker and his grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, a respected Jewish philosopher. Nevertheless, Felix and his brother and two sisters were raised as Reformed (Calvinist) Christians.
Life and Times
Felix was a child musical prodigy as precocious as Mozart, and supported by his parents. He was a brilliant pianist and by thirteen had written concertos, sonatas symphonies and vocal works of quality and originality. His family was wealthy and hired an orchestra perform his works in their dining room. Felix was a talented painter and writer, and fluent in four languages. The Leipzig Conservatory, known now as the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, was founded by Felix.
Like Brahms, Mendelssohn was a music history researcher and helped spark interest in the music of J.S. Bach by conducting the Saint Matthew Passion.
Mendelssohn, Elijah (p. 1) | Manuscript score, c. 1847 | Library of Congress
Mendelssohn had a stable, affluent and conventional life: happily married with children. He was a popular composer, conductor and soloist in Britain, and his tours inspired him to compose. His last England tour left him exhausted and, soon after, his sister Fanny died, leaving him in distress. Less than six months later, he passed away at the age of thirty-eight.
Compositional Style
Mendelssohn’s style is steeped in Classical influences of the eighteenth century, setting him apart from his progressive contemporaries such as Liszt and Berlioz. Mendelssohn was prolific (750 works) and wrote in all the major genres of the time save for opera. His best known works include Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, Italian Symphony, Scottish Symphony, The Hebrides overture, Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64, and Songs Without Words for piano.
Fingal’s Cave, Island of Staffa, Scotland (1884) | Thomas Moran | Mendelssohn was inspired by Scotland's landscapes | High Museum of Art
Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
As is typical for concertos, Mendelssohn’s violin concerto uses a three-movement format and fast-slow-fast tempo scheme:
Allegro molto appassionato (E minor)
Andante (C major)
Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace (E major)
The entire work takes twenty-five to thirty minutes to perform. We'll listen to the first movement only. The slow and lyrical second movement and fast and brilliant third movement are on the video if you wish to enjoy the entire concerto.
The Allegro molto appassionato is in sonata form. The soloist presents the first theme at downbeat, forgoing the double exposition used in many concertos. Here's the first theme:
After the soloist blazes a volley of ascending scales, the first theme is announced in the orchestra. A frenzied transition passage by the soloist shifts tonality to G major and prepares the way for a tranquil second theme in the woodwinds:
The exposition closes with a codetta and the two main themes are worked over in the development section, building up to a violin cadenza before the recapitulation. Mendelssohn wrote the cadenza rather than leaving it to the soloist to improvise.
Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64 | Felix Mendelssohn | First movement only, Allegro molto appassionato (13:54).
Vocabulary
absolute music, Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
Germany
Compositional Style
Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
