| Contents |
Preparation. Four chords and a summer night ; Grandfather Moses Mendelssohn ; Loyalties, loyalties ; Now listen, all of you ; A word about Zelter ; Reviews and condescensions ; A C minor symphony ; The Octet ; The Wedding of Camacho -- Music of yesterday, music of tomorrow. The flight from opera ; Bach and the Romantics ; The resurrected St. Matthew Passion ; He is rather too fond of the dead ; The friendship of Schumann ; Parting with Goethe ; A Calm Sea and A Prosperous Voyage ; Walpurgis Night -- The limits and the heart of an age. Biedermeier: man and woman ; Cécile, the woman without predecessors ; Genre painters of children and flowers ; Domestic problems, Fanny and Wilhelm ; England or France? ; Victor Hugo and Horace Vernet ; Salon music? -- The ascent to the summit. Elemental music ; The Hebrides ; Colourist or sculptor? ; Berlin and Düsseldorf ; The story of Paul of Tarsus ; But why is everybody dying? ; In the beginning was the word ; Scottish Symphony ; Blue Sky in A major ; Anything but national music ; The wrath and the grief of the prophet Elijah ; Buckingham Palace -- Zenith and fall. Leipzig and the talent for friendship ; The quarrel with Marx ; This year is the King's ; The heritage of antiquity ; Farewell, Berlin ; Back to Shakespeare! ; Melusina ; The conductor and the Times ; There is a reaper, death his name ; The Dark Green Tune ; The Sniper's Bullet ; Can such things be? |
| Abstract |
Unlike many men of genius, Felix Mendelssohn was a happy man. For a composer his life was unique. He was rich, heir to a family fortune, popular, engaged in the social whirl usually reserved for performing artists. The fabric of his life as a musician is rich and fascinating. And the story of what happened to his music is a little less than shocking. Admired as was Mendelssohn's music during his lifetime, with the advent of the Nazi regime in Germany, a systematic effort was made to wipe out every vestige of his work. For Mendelssohn was a Jew. Today, a resurgence of interest in the music of Mendelssohn has reinstated his work to the position it richly deserves. Here are deep insights into Mendelssohn's life and work. The author tells why the most successful composer of his age, creator of such masterful works as 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Scotch Symphony,' made only one venture into opera, how out of his strong feeling for the Biblical world he wrote such dramatic oratorios as 'Paul' and 'Elijah,' of his close friendships with the cultural elite of his day including Goethe and Schumann. The author gives special attention to his position as a Jew, which gave rise to anti-Semitic attacks on his music by none other than Richard Wagner. Many musical examples illustrate the author's contention that the emotional nature of Mendelssohn's work was a product of his era and personality. Photographs and drawings depict the color and flavor of his time. A compelling story with fascinating interpretations for the musician and layman alike, here is the first real insight into the truth and drama of Mendelssohn's colorful and exciting life. |
