See 223 performances with music by Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-1847)See 6 video-on-demand performances with music by Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-1847)Although he was born nearly 40 years after Beethoven, Mendelssohn's music also spans the transition from classical to romantic. He had great ability to create romantic mood, though his music is rarely sentimental and always tempered by awareness of the classical tradition that preceded him. Mendelssohn's music was immensely popular in Victorian England; his Italian and Scottish symphonies, the Violin Concerto and the incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream are still among the most frequently played. Lovers of chamber music rank his work highly, with his best works on a par with those of Haydn and Beethoven.
Like Mozart, Mendelssohn was a child prodigy: he played his first public concert at nine years old. His string Octet, written at age 16, is a work of extraordinary maturity. Unlike Mozart, he was born into a wealthy family, and given the best education that could be found. The most notable event of his early years was his family's conversion to Christianity (in which his name changed to Mendelssohn Bartholdy, which often appears today on recordings and concert listings). He seems to have been a charming man unspoilt by the family wealth: he worked prodigiously hard, and his scores show meticulous attention to detail.
More about Mendelssohn's life and work...
| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 17-May-2013 Dr Anton Philipszaal | Thrills and introspection from the Residentie Orkest with Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Wibi Soerjadi |
 Under conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Residentie Orkest presented an exuberant programme of perennial favourites including Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Ouverture, Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 1 with soloist Wibi Soerjadi, and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7.
Read full review... | |
| 17-May-2013 Usher Hall | Sir Andrew Davis and RSNO in Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah |
 RSNO concerts begin, for me and around 100 others, with the pre-concert talk. I'm especially glad of these when new to a work, such as Mendelssohn’s 1846 Elijah. A talk by those who have prepared the music for us adds something to even the most extensive “presearch”. Sir Andrew Davis, in conversation with RSNO principal trombonist Dávur Juul Magnussen, came across as extremely witty and erudite. One topic of interest was the decision to sing in German a work whose Birmingham première was sung in English.Read full review... | |
| 20-Apr-2013 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Concert Hall | Karen Gomyo and Andreas Delfs with the Hong Kong Philharmonic |
 Ferdinand David, the concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra when Mendelssohn was conductor, must have been quite a virtuoso for the composer to have written his Violin Concerto in E minor for him. In this wildly popular work, soloist Karen Gomyo with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Andreas Delfs on Saturday was up against stiff competition, Anne-Sophie Mutter having performed it with the same orchestra last year.Read full review... | |
| 7-Apr-2013 Sydney Conservatorium of Music: Verbrugghen Hall | Inspirational performances of Mendelssohn, Dohnányi and Franck at the Musica Viva Festival |
 At one point in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, the narrator is listening to a sonata for piano and violin by the fictional Vinteuil, when “at a certain moment, without being able to distinguish any clear outline, or to give a name to what was pleasing him, suddenly enraptured, he tried to grasp the phrase or harmony – he did not know which – that had just been played and that had opened and expanded his soul”. Some suspect that the author might have had Franck’s Sonata for violin and piano in mind.Read full review... | |
