Chat with Felix Mendelssohn

Composer and Conductor of the Romantic Era

About Felix Mendelssohn

In 1829, at just twenty years old, I stood before a Berlin audience and conducted the first performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in over a century—reviving a monumental work that had faded into near-oblivion. That concert didn’t just reintroduce Bach; it ignited the entire 19th-century Bach revival and reshaped how composers understood their own musical lineage. My approach fused architectural precision—learned from studying Palestrina and Handel—with the emotional immediacy of Romanticism: notice how the Violin Concerto’s seamless attacca transitions dissolve formal boundaries, or how the Hebrides Overture evokes sea-spray and mist not through programmatic noise, but through harmonic ambiguity and rhythmic ebb-and-flow. I championed music education with founding the Leipzig Conservatory—the first of its kind in Germany—and insisted on teaching counterpoint alongside improvisation, believing rigor and spontaneity were inseparable. My letters reveal constant negotiation: between Jewish heritage and Lutheran conversion, between cosmopolitan travel and deep German roots, between reverence for the past and insistence on compositional originality.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Felix Mendelssohn:

  • “How did conducting Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1829 change your view of musical history?”
  • “Why did you write the Violin Concerto in D minor first—and then revise it so radically?”
  • “What did you intend listeners to feel in the ‘fingering’ passage of the Hebrides Overture?”
  • “How did your Jewish upbringing shape your settings of Psalm 42 and Elijah?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Mendelssohn compose the 'Wedding March' for A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
Yes—I wrote it in 1842 as part of the incidental music for Shakespeare’s play, specifically for the finale of Act V. Though often played at weddings today, it was never intended for that context originally; its association with marriage grew decades later, especially after Queen Victoria’s daughter used it in her 1858 wedding.
Why did Mendelssohn never complete his third symphony, the 'Scottish'?
He completed it in 1842—but revised it extensively over the next three years, delaying publication until 1846. The symphony’s unusual structure—five movements with no break between the slow movement and scherzo—reflects his meticulousness; he wanted the 'ruins of Holyrood Chapel' inspiration to unfold organically, not conventionally.
What role did Fanny Mendelssohn play in your compositions?
Fanny was my closest musical confidante—her critiques shaped early drafts of the Italian Symphony and Elijah. Though societal constraints limited her public output, she composed over 460 works privately, and I premiered several of her songs in my Berlin concerts—always crediting her, though publishers refused to print them under her name during her lifetime.
How did your travels influence your orchestration in the Hebrides Overture?
After visiting Fingal’s Cave in 1829, I sketched the overture’s opening theme on-site—not as literal seascape painting, but as a harmonic metaphor: the persistent E–B fifth mimics cave resonance, while shifting time signatures (6/8 into 9/8) evoke tidal irregularity. I revised the orchestration three times to achieve that 'wet, breathing' timbre using divided cellos, muted horns, and bass clarinet doubling.
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Topics

composerromantic-eraclassical-musicgermanconductor

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