Tomorrow is the 198th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn. This gifted and skilled child prodigy is one of the most significant German composers of the nineteenth century to follow the volatile multi-talented, Ludwig van Beethoven.
Mendelssohn's first acknowledged masterpiece written at the age of 16, is the Octet for Four Violins, Two Violas, and Two Cellos. The light, whimsical melodies combined with a unique ensemble of instruments create sonorous moments supported by independent musical lines.
The glorious main theme played by the first violin alludes to the dedicatee Eduard Rietz, and is heard throughout the piece. From his sister Fanny Mendelssohn, we learn that the third movement or Scherzo was inspired by the "Walpurgisnachtstraum" from the first part of Goethe's Faust. In his own way, the teenage Mendelssohn was searching for similarities and differences between music and other cultural forms. This work showcases his creativity, knowledge, and originality in chamber and symphonic writing.
If you wish to listen to this gem, the Library has several versions to choose from including the Vienna Octet, the combined forces of the Cleveland and Meliora Quartets, and the Emerson String Quartet. Books about the composer include Herbert Kupferberg's Felix Mendelssohn: His Life, His Family, His Music, Jeffrey S. Sposato's The Price of Assimilation: Felix Mendelssohn and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition, and R. Larry Todd's Mendelssohn: A Life in Music.