Scan 142
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians ed. by J. A. Fuller Maitland, 1907
21 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1rührend feierlichen Tönen'; and a Lustspiel, or little comedy, for voices and pf. in three scenes, beginning 'Ich J. Mendelssohn.' The earliest date is that to the cantata—Jan. 13, 1820. The extraordinary neatness and finish, which characterise Mendelssohn's MSS. to the end, are observable in the earliest of these childish productions, and the mysterious letters L. v. g. G., or H. d. m., so familiar to those who know his latest scores, are usually at the head of each.
3Among the pieces for 1821 are five sinfonies for string quartet, each in three movements; nine fugues for ditto; the completion of the G minor pf. sonata (op. 105); motets for four voices; a couple of songs; a couple of études for pf. solo; two one-act operas, 'Soldatenliebschaft' and 'Die beiden Pädagogen'1; and half a third opera, 'Die wandernden Comödianten.' 1821 was the year of his acquaintance with Weber, then in Berlin for the production of 'Der Freischütz,' and of an enthusiasm on the part of the boy for that romantic composer which he never lost.2 This, too, was the year of his first visit to Goethe. Zelter took his pupil to Weimar in November, and they passed sixteen days under the old poet's roof.3
5In 1822 Felix made a second appearance in public of a more serious nature than before, viz. on March 31, at a concert of Aloys Schmitt's, in which he played with Schmitt a duet of Dussek's for two pianos. In the summer the whole family made a tour in Switzerland. Starting on July 6, they went by Cassel (for Spohr), Frankfort, Darmstadt, Schaffhausen, Amsteg, Interlaken, Vevey, and Chamounix; a large and merry party of ten, besides servants. The tour was taken at great leisure, and on the return two important halts were made—first at Frankfort, to make the acquaintance of Schelble, the conductor of the famous Cäcilien-Verein, whom Felix astonished by extemporising on Bach's motets; and at Weimar, for a second visit to Goethe.4
7At Secheron, near Geneva, two songs were written (Sept. 18, 1822); and the Pianoforte quartet in C minor, afterwards published as op. 1, was begun to be put on paper (the autograph being marked 'Begun at Secheron, Sept. 20, 1822'), and was finished after the return home. Besides this, the records of these two years (1822 and 1823) contain six more symphonies, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; six detached pieces for strings; five concertos for solo instruments with quartet accompaniment, viz. one for violin solo, one for pf. solo, one for pf. and violin, and two for two pf's.; two quartets for pf. and strings, viz. in C minor (op. 1) and in F minor (op. 2); sonata for pf. and violin (op. 4) and for pf. and viola (MS.); a fantasia and three other pieces for the organ; a fugue and fantasia for pf.; a Kyrie for two choirs; a psalm, three songs, a piece for contralto solo and strings, in three movements, to Italian text; two songs for men's voices, and the completion of the fourth opera, 'Die beiden Nefien,' or 'Der Onkel aus Boston,' which was a full-grown piece in three acts. The symphonies show a similar advance. They are in four movements instead of three, as before, and the length of the movements increases. No. 8, in D, written between Nov. 6 and Nov. 27 (1822), after the return from Switzerland, has an Adagio e grave before the opening Allegro. The slow movement is for three violas and bass, and the finale has a prominent part for the violoncello. This symphony must have pleased the composer or some of his audience in whose judgment he believed, since within a month he began to re-score it for full orchestra. He wrote a new trio for the minuet, and in this form it became Symphony No. 9. The three last of the six are for quintet, and the scherzos of Nos. 10 and 12 are founded on Swiss tunes, in No. 12 with the addition of triangles, cymbals, and drums. The independent violoncello part is conspicuous throughout. This advance in his music is in keeping with the change going on in Felix himself. He was now nearly fourteen, was growing fast,5 his features and his expression were altering and maturing, his hair was cut short,6 and he was put into jackets and trousers. His extemporising—which he had begun to practise early in 18217—was already remarkable,8 and there was a dash of audacity in it hardly characteristic of the mature man. Thus Goethe wished to hear a certain fugue of Bach's, and as Felix could not remember it all, he developed it himself at great length, which he would hardly have done later.9 After his return home, on Dec. 5, 1822, he appeared at a concert given by Madame Anna Milder, when he played a pianoforte concerto of his own, probably that in A minor with quintet accompaniment.10
9The same incessant and varied production of previous years marks those of 1822 and 1823. It must not be supposed that the symphonies, operas, quartets, concertos, and other works mentioned were written as exercises only. It had been the custom in the Mendelssohn house for some time past to have musical parties on alternate Sunday mornings, with a small orchestra, in the large dining-room of the house, and the programmes included one or more of Felix's compositions. As a rule the pianoforte part was taken by himself or Fanny, or both, while Rebecka sang, and Paul played the violoncello. But Felix always conducted, even when so small as to have to stand on a stool to be seen; thus he enjoyed the benefit not only of hearing his compositions played (a benefit for which less fortunate composers—Schubert, for example—have sighed in vain) but of the practice in conducting and in playing before an
111 Words by Dr. Caspar (Dev. p. 5).
122 H. p. 32.
133 See details in Goethe and Mendelssohn. See also Rellstab, Aus meinem Leben, ii. 125; and Lobe's Recollections of Mendelssohn, in Once a Week, May 11, 1867.
144 G. & M. p. 33.
155 Zelter, in G. & M. p. 35.
166 F.M. i. 130; Dev. p. 10.
177 F.M. i. 100.
188 Dev. p. 11.
199 F.M. i. 129.
2010 A.M.Z. 1822, p. 273; 1823, p. 55.
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