Music in all its perfect glory: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64. In this concert the early version from 1844 is played by Daniel Hope and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding. The concert took place at the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm in 2008.

(00:00) I. Allegro con fuoco
(11:15) II. Andante
(19:09) III. Allegro molto vivace

It is one of the very great concertos of the 19th century and one of the most popular pieces in the classical repertoire for violinists and audiences alike:
the Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847). At the premiere on March 13, 1845 with the violinist Ferdinand David (1810 - 1873), who was celebrated in his time, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was received with enthusiasm.

Mendelssohn and David had been close friends since childhood. In 1838, Mendelssohn finally told the violinist of his plan to write a violin concerto in E minor for him. However, he did not complete the composition until 1844, after which proofs were sent to David, and lively exchanges between the two friends resulted in a revised version that was premiered and printed in 1845. It is in this revised version, to which David extensively contributed, that the E minor Violin Concerto is still known today. Mendelssohn's original version from 1844, on the other hand, remained largely unnoticed and only aroused the interest of the music world in the 1980s. In the meantime, the original version is also available in print.

Musically, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto has some special features: The three movements merge into one another - almost as if the concerto were also one of the “Songs Without Words” invented by the composer. The first movement begins with a carpet of sound on which the main theme is immediately heard - not played by the orchestra, but by the solo violin. This had never been done before in a violin concerto. In its character, the theme given by the violin is a cantilena that may remind some listeners of klezmer melodies. Another novelty is the way Mendelssohn Bartholdy treats the cadenza: It is composed in its entirety and is placed not at the end of the first movement but between the development and recapitulation, thus forming the climax of the development. The second, slow movement also seems like a song without words, with a melancholy, almost painful middle section at its center. The final movement, in turn, begins with a slow transition, followed abruptly by the lively rondo theme, which has become world famous in its own right.

Friedrich Nietzsche called Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor a beautiful incident of German music. Whatever one may think of this bon mot, beauty is most certainly THE characteristic of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's E minor Violin Concerto.

© Inpetto Film Production

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