The life and works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are enjoying a considerable resurgence of interest among musicologists, musicians, and music-lovers alike. This volume of ten essays presents the most recent trends in Mendelssohn research, covering three broad catagories—reception history, historical and critical essays, and case studies of particular compositions. Based on primary sources from the nineteenth century, including little known autograph manuscripts and letters of the composer, the volume examines Mendelssohn's historical reception, his relationships with such contemporaries as Franz Liszt, A.B. Marx, Eduard Devrient, and Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and such works as the Variations sérieuses, Preludes and Fugues Op. 35, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture, and Reformation Symphony .
List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1. A winter of discontent: Mendelssohn and the Berliner Domchor David Brodbeck; 2. In mutual reflection: historical, biographical, and structural aspects of Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses Christa Jost; 3. Felix culpa: Goethe and the image of Mendelssohn Lawrence Kramer; 4. Composition as accommodation? On Mendelssohn's music in relation to England Friedhelm Krummacher; 5. Mendelssohn and Liszt Wm. A. Little; 6. 1848, anti-Semitism, and the Mendelssohn reception Donald Mintz; 7. Marxian programmatic music: a stage in Mendelssohn's musical development Judith Silber Ballan; 8. Me voilà perruqué: Mendelssohn's Six Preludes and Fugues op. 35 reconsidered R. Larry Todd; 9. Mendelssohn's letters to Eduard Devrient: filling in some gaps J. Rigbie Turner; 10. Mendelssohn and his English publishers Peter Ward Jones; Index.
Overview
The life and works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are enjoying a considerable resurgence of interest among musicologists, musicians, and music-lovers alike. This volume of ten essays presents the most recent trends in Mendelssohn research, covering three broad catagories—reception history, historical and critical essays, and case studies of particular compositions. Based on primary sources from the nineteenth century, including little known autograph manuscripts and letters of the composer, the volume examines ...