Felix Mendelssohn

Synopsis

German composer, conductor, pianist, organist

• 1809 born in Hamburg. The Mendelssohn family moved to Berlin in 1811.
• 1821-1829 studied and performed in Berlin. He performed widely and composed many of his early works, including 12 symphonies before the age of 15. At age 15 his first symphony, number 11, was composed and published; at age 16 he began to compose fully mature works. His early teachers and patrons included Ludwig Berger, a former pupil of Clementi; Carl Friedrich Zelter, who taught him counterpoint and was heavily influenced by J. S. Bach; and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who pronounced him a child prodigy as promising as Mozart.
• 1826-1829 studied at Berlin University
• 1829 Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of the St. Matthew Passion, one J. S. Bach's greatest works, since the composer's death, to great acclaim at the Singakademie in Berlin. This sparked renewed interest in Bach's works, and was the beginning of the revival of the popularity Bach's music in Germany, largely due to Mendelssohn's continued interest.
• 1829-1832 Mendelssohn engaged in a musical tour of Europe, performing and composing as he did so. This was the first of his ten visits to England.
• 1833-1835 Mendelssohn served as the musical director of Duesseldorf, where among other responsibilities he prepared a major choral work each month to be performed at high mass, including works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Bach. He revived the musical form of the oratorio, and began composing his own oratorio, St. Paul, during this period.
• 1835-1840 Mendelssohn accepted a position as music director of the orchestra in Leipzig, where he helped revive the city's musical institutions. He became the most prominent German musician of his time. Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck were his contemporaries and friends in Leipzig. This is the period during which he composed his organ Preludes and Fugues.
• 1840-1847 Mendelssohn continued in Leipzig, while also traveling extensively to London and many other places. He rediscovered Handel's music and renewed interest in its performance. During this period he also founded the Leipzig conservatory. During his visits to London, Mendelssohn performed a series of organ recitals.
• 1845 Mendelssohn published his organ sonatas.
• 1846 Mendelssohn finished and published his oratorio "Elijah."
• 1847 died in Leipzig following a series of strokes, probably exacerbated by overwork, distress at the recent deaths of family members, and exhaustion.

For details, see the Felix Mendelssohn article on Wikipedia.

Oxford Music Online biography of Mendelssohn: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51795?q=felix+mendelssohn&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

List of Pieces

Opus	Title	Year
Op. 37 no. 1	Prelude and Fugue No. 1	1837
Op. 37 no. 2	Prelude and Fugue No. 2	1837
Op. 37 no. 3	Prelude and Fugue No. 3	1837

Opus	Sonata	Movement	Year
Op. 65 no. 1	Sonata 1	1. Allegro moderato e serioso 2. Adagio 3. Andante Recit 4. Allegro assai vivace	1845
Op. 65 no. 2	Sonata 2	1. Grave 2. Adagio 3. Allegro maestoso e vivace 4. Fuga	1845
Op. 65 no. 3	Sonata 3	1. Con moto maestoso 2. Andante tranquillo	1845
Op. 65 no. 4	Sonata 4	1. Allegro con brio 2. Andante religioso 3. Allegretto 4. Allegro maestoso e vivace	1845
Op. 65 no. 5	Sonata 5	1. Andante 2. Andante con moto 3. Allegro maestoso	1845
Op. 65 no. 6	Sonata 6	1. Choral 2. Andante sostenuto 3. Allegro molto 4. Fuga 5. Final/Andante	1845

Background and General Perspectives on Performing Mendelssohn Organ Works

Mendelssohn, although an early Romatic composer, was conservative in his outlook and interested in the forms and compositional styles of previous composers. He was a gifted composer of counterpoint, which he employed masterfully in many of his compositions. Sometimes he expresses the harmonic language of the Romantic Period in the grammar of the Baroque; at other times, especially in his fugues, his music sounds almost wholly Baroque, reminiscent of Bach. His organ sonatas are not written in Sonata-Allegro style, but are instead collections of varying pieces, using the title "Sonata" similarly to the way it was used by Bach.

One distinctive form employed frequently by Mendelssohn involves the introduction and development of an initial theme, followed by a second, contrasting theme of equal length. Mendelssohn then weaves both themes together contrapuntally to finish the piece. This form is especially evident in the first movement of his Organ Sonata IV, which was the last sonata he completed, and in many of the chorus sections of his oratorio "Elijah," which was written in the final year of his life.

Five different musical styles can be found in Mendelssohn's organ works: "English Baroque voluntary style; chorale-based procedures; fugue or fugato; Baroque toccata; and melodic ornamentation practices."

"Mendelssohn was one of the finest organists of his day. The Three Preludes and Fugues op.37, dedicated to Mozart's pupil Thomas Attwood, form a pendant to op.35. The Six Organ Sonatas op.65 (1845), teeming with artful fugues and chorales, summarize and epitomize Mendelssohn's rediscovery of Bach, and may have inspired Schumann's six fugues on B–A–C–H op.60." - Grove Music Online: "Mendelssohn, Felix, §10: Keyboard music" [1]

Registration and Organs

Mendelssohn gives registration instructions in his preface to Op. 65:

ff=full organ [organo pleno plus reeds]

f=full organ without the loudest stops

p=several 8' stops

pp=one soft 8' stop

Fingering and Pedaling

Both the Peters and Dupre Editions of Mendelssohn's Organ Works contain fingering suggestions. Refer to both to see what fingerings/pedalings work for you. The Novello contains no fingering or pedaling.

Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

IMSLP, Sonata various editions

Free score download

IMSLP, Prelude and Fugue various editions

Free score download

Recordings

John Scott Performs the Complete Works of Mendelssohn

Retail Recording

Free Online

Groove Shark Recordings

Free Recording

Mendelssohn Organ Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Prelude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTCi_MVrTz0

Mendelssohn Organ Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Fugue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUF4Qc55B7I

Mendelssohn Organ Sonata #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjnLQ0t-sjQ

Mendelssohn Organ Sonata #4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCsHdux7OY

Mendelssohn Organ Sonata #6, theme and variations based on "Vater uns in Himmelreich": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-HTWmgWfg

All 6 organ sonatas, recorded by Jos van der Kooy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vc7rRdiCMU&list=PL373EF82432EAD146

Pay to Listen

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Other Resources

Mendelssohn and the Organ by Wm. A. Little (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)
An Analysis of Mendelssohn's Organ Works; A Study of their Structural Features. For the use of students ([1898]) - [2]

Notes

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