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Felix Mendelssohn

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The characterization of the musical production of Felix Mendelssohn requires the acknowledgement of two key observations: the essentially classical structure of Mendelssohn’s compositions and the frequent romantic innovations Mendelssohn employed. Mendelssohn was a conservative fixture in an era of radical upheaval—the early nineteenth century. Intellectually in Europe, this was an era of transition, as the romantics sought to upend the enlightenment establishment across all areas of artistic, scientific and cultural production: whether the orderly structures of classical music, the faith in reason and scientific progress that animated Enlightenment tracts and polemics, the embrace of technological progress, or the vehement rejection of superstitions …show more content…

Amidst this era of radical upheaval, Mendelssohn’s penchant for classical structures indicates a conservative disposition, though perhaps it is more apt to take Mendelssohn’s word and attribute Mendelssohn’s adherence to classical forms to an independent mind not swayed by the trends of his time: “Ever since I began to compose, I have remained true to my starting principle: not to write a page because no matter what public, or what pretty girl wanted it to be thus or thus; but to write solely as I myself thought best, and as it gave me pleasure.” Ergo the irony that Mendelssohn’s conservative tastes may be attributed to a radical …show more content…

For all that doubt such a proclamation, consider the evidence: he wrote numerous compositions including 5 operas and 11 symphonies during his boyhood (5-16 years old) for string orchestras, concerti, sonatas and fugues. Mendelssohn started with piano lessons from his mother before moving on to a series of tutors to nurture his musical interests. To trace the root of Mendelssohn’s inclinations for classical and baroque forms, specifically his deep appreciation for Bach, it is perhaps instructive to focus on one key figure in Mendelssohn’s childhood, his tutor Carl Friedrich Zelzter and his aunt Sarah Levy. Mendelssohn absorbed Zeltzer’s conservative tastes and Levy’s passion for Bach during the numerous composition and piano lessons Mendelssohn had with these two figures. This musical enculturation perhaps explains in part Mendelssohn’s fondness for classical structures as well as his deep appreciation for an imitation of the forms and styles of Johan Christian Bach. In 1821 Mendelssohn had the fortune to meet Goethe, the great German poet responsible for the likes of Faust. The meeting of the musical prodigy and the prolific poet was one of mutual admiration, and Goethe’s poems proved a source of several of Mendelssohn’s musical creations. During a series of years starting in 1829 Mendelssohn visited several localities in Great Britain and the Italic Peninsula, including Venice, Rome and Naples. His visits and interactions with

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