Enjoy The Hebrides Overture by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1947) who is perhaps best known for composing the melody for the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing":
Read about the above piece HERE. Excerpt:
The music, though labelled as an overture, is intended to stand as a complete work. Although programme music, it does not tell a specific story and is not "about" anything; instead, the piece depicts a mood and "sets a scene", making it an early example of such musical tone poems.Read the rest.
Mendelssohn was one of the few true geniuses in the history of classical music's 800-year development. I feel that, while recognized and acknowledged as "brilliantly accomplished" in his lifetime, Mendelssohn's still work tends to be underrated when compared with the other important composers of the eghteenth and nineteenth centuries.
ReplyDeleteI can only tell you this: Without Mendelssohn it's unlikely we would ever have been able to enjoy Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Grieg in the precise manner we do today, because –– as a qualified musician, myself ––, I can HEAR clear hints of the stylistic elements that made those composers who and what they were –– particularly Schumann–– in Mendelssohns' music –– mostly The Songs Without Words.
One of the wonderful things about making an earnest attempt to pursue "greatness," oneself, –– however vainly ––, is the enlarged capacity it gives the devoted student to APPRECIATE what "greatness" really is on the rare occasions it appears in others.
You may, therefore, take my word for it that Mendelssohn was very great, indeed, much more so than his stupid critics, who tried to dismiss him as "glib" and "shallow" –– even "meretiricious!" –– would have had us believe.
Franco,
DeleteMendelssohn's still work tends to be underrated when compared with the other important composers of the eghteenth and nineteenth centuries.
No doubt!
In my excellent music appreciation course in college, the professor mentioned Mendelssohn but didn't have us study even one of his works. We had plenty of time to study his works in the course, but he was very nearly ignored.