Album insights
Felix Mendelssohn was arguably the most gifted of precocious composers the world has ever seen; not even Mozart claims to have composed "mature" masterpieces in his teenage years. At the tender age of 16 in 1825, Mendelssohn created his masterful String Octet. He was already celebrated as a prodigy on the violin and piano, an outstanding athlete and swimmer, a talented poet with Goethe as a childhood friend, a multilingualist, watercolor painter, and philosopher. While excelling in various activities, it was music that predominantly sparked his creativity.
Although possessing immense promise that seemed nearly boundless, Mendelssohn lacked the inner resolution to fully tap into his potentials. He was a sensitive man who struggled to balance his exceptional talents with the need for intimate relationships, separate from the demanding expectations of a celebrated musician. As he expressed, "The thoughts expressed through the music I love are not too unclear to put into words - on the contrary, they are too clear."
Recent research reveals Mendelssohn left behind at least 106 songs, 13 vocal duets, and 60 part-songs. Despite an era seemingly hungry for musical obscurities, these microcosms of excellence are seldom heard in concert halls. Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, and even Liszt, to an extent, continue to dominate the Austrian-German romantic song tradition, relegating Mendelssohn to the periphery.
The primary explanation for this neglect lies in Mendelssohn's comparatively narrow emotional spectrum. While other composers fearlessly delved into the darker facets of the human psyche, such concerns were alien to Mendelssohn's peaceful, content, and self-sufficient nature, beyond his realm of experience and expressive abilities. His songs were meant for intimate performances around home pianos, not for public scrutiny in modern concert halls. It's hardly Mendelssohn's fault that, with the notable exception of Mozart, commentators tend to value music based on the extent tears evoke joy rather than the other way around.
Julian Haylock © 1998
Translation: Wendy Geddert