Any listing of Mendelssohn’s most popular works, would have his violin concerto somewhere near the top. His rethinking of the concerto form – started with his two piano concertos – here reaches its apogee; and the success of this remodelling can be measured by the plethora of famous near-imitations that followed it — the violin concertos of Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Barber, Walton, Bartók and Britten (to mention but a few) all owe a debt of honour to their Mendelssohnian predecessor.
Also, more chamber music from Felix and Fanny (the d minor piano trios of both) and, finally, we visit Felix’s last major work, his ‘Requiem’ for his sister, the f minor quartet, Op. 80.
Our logo/featured image for this term –
based on an early Augener edition of Mendelssohn’s 48 Songs Without Words for piano –
comes to us courtesy of the artistic skills of Bill Bytheway.
Thanks Bill!