When was mendelssohn violin concerto written

David and Mendelssohn had been friends since When Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory in , one of the first faculty appointments he made was David. David was held in the highest regard as soloist, as a model concertmaster, as quartet leader, and teacher. There is only a backdrop for not as much as two seconds of E minor, given an appassionato character by the quietly pulsating drums and plucked basses.

Across this, the violin sings a famous melody. The first extended passage for the orchestra is dramatically introduced by the boldly upward-thrusting octaves of the violin; it also gives way quickly to the next solo, a new melody, full of verve, and barely begun by the orchestra before the soloist makes it his own. As in most concertos between Beethoven and Brahms, the orchestra here is not so much partner or rival in dialectic discussion as provider of accompaniment, punctuation, scaffolding, and a bit of cheerleading.

The workmanship, the sonorous fantasy, the delight in detail are all but Mozartian. The whole of the first solo is to be for the E string. David was responsible both for the cadenza and for giving frequent advice regarding technical matters through the compositional process. Sadly, Mendelssohn was too ill to attend the successful premiere on March 13, he would be dead in a year and a half and Opus 64 was conducted by Niels W.

Gade with David as the soloist. From the beginning of the collaboration, David and Mendelssohn had agreed that this concerto should not be a vehicle for empty showmanship. With this guideline, the outcome was a serious, exquisite, elegant essay in the romantic concerto genre, ultimately ranking among the finest violin concerti written in the nineteenth century. Finesse, cultivated taste, and an unerring sense of the appropriate are among its chief attributes. But Mendelssohn was also a true Romantic who felt free to break the rules of the classical concerto.

First Movement: The breaking of old rules begins immediately as the violinist launches the buoyant principal theme in the second measure, dispensing with the customary orchestral exposition.

The key of E minor adds a touch of poignancy to this expansive, openhearted melody. The most magical moment of this sonata-form movement comes at the end of the development section when in a hushed, mysterious passage the soloist begins searching for the home key. It concludes with chains of rapid arpeggios that continue as the orchestra reprises the principal theme, thus binding cadenza seamlessly to recapitulation.

At these performances, Joshua Bell plays his own cadenza. The conductor was the Danish composer Niels Gade, substituting for the ailing Mendelssohn. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Violin Concerto in E minor Felix Mendelssohn.