 | No. 181 of the ongoing ITYWLTMT series of audio montages can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast181 |
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The third
in our series of “Mad for Mendelssohn” podcasts considers two works that have
in common the “number 2”.
The first
work is an early “string symphony” – one of 12 composed as student works
between the years of 1821 and 1823 by the teenage Mendelssohn. Within two years
of completing the twelth of these works, Mendelssohn composed his Octet and the
Midsummer Nights Dream overture, launching his mature phase as a composer.
I retained
the second symphony for the podcast – all twelve were assembled in the
following YouTube playlist (performed by Concerto Köln and the Northern Chamber
Orchestra)
The bulk of
today’s podcast is dedicated to an ambitious work – Mendelssohn’s Second
symphony. The 'Lobgesang' (or 'Hymn of Praise') was commissioned by the city of
Leipzig from its Kapellmeister Mendelssohn to commemorate the 400th anniversary
of the invention of printing in 1840, and has elements of the symphony, cantata
and oratorio. The composer's description of the work was "A
Symphony-Cantata on Words of the Holy Bible, for Soloists, Chorus and
Orchestra". It requires two sopranos and a tenor as soloists, along with a
chorus and orchestra. It lasts almost twice as long as any of Mendelssohn's
other four symphonies.
At the
opposite pole from Beethoven’s Ninth, we have here a symphonic miniature in
three movements, intended to act as the overture to the sung part of the work,
which is twice as long. Thus this splendid ‘Symphony-Cantata’ expands into a
sweeping vocal and choral epic.
The
performance I retained for this week’s podcast is one by the Leipzig Gewandhaus
orchestra, wguch likely was involved in the work’s première.
The
orchestra's origins can be traced to 1743, when a society called the Grosses
Concert began performing in private homes, and later at a local tavern. In
1780, because of complaints about concert conditions and audience behavior in
the tavern, the mayor and city council of Leipzig offered to renovate one story
of the building used by textile merchants for the orchestra's use – thus Gewandhaus
(Cloth or Textile Hall).
In 1835,
Felix Mendelssohn became the orchestra's music director, with the traditional
title of Gewandhauskapellmeister, and held the position with only one
year's interruption until his death in 1847. Mendelssohn concentrated on
developing the musical life of Leipzig, working with the orchestra, the opera
house, the Choir of St. Thomas Church, and the city's other choral and musical
institutions. Mendelssohn's concerts included, in addition to many of his own works,
three series of "historical concerts" and a number of works by his
contemporaries. Mendelssohn also revived interest in Franz Schubert. Robert
Schumann discovered the manuscript of Schubert's 9th Symphony and sent it to
Mendelssohn, who promptly premiered it in Leipzig on 21 March 1839, more than a
decade after Schubert's death.
The post of
Gewandhauskapellmeister was held between 1970 and 1996 by Kurt Masur
(who is today one of the orchestra’s two laureate conductors) leads
today’s performance.
I think you will love this music too.
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