Felix Mendelssohn By: Curtis Wilcox

Early Life Mendelssohn was born on February 3 rd, 1809 in Hamburg Germany. His parents, Leah and Abraham Mendelssohn, had four children. His father was a banker, and as such, Felix was able to enjoy a rich, diverse life.

Introduction to Music His studies in music began with his sister Fanny’s lessons to him. Karl F. Zelter was Mendelssohn’s first composition teacher. Later studied at Berlin University.

At the age of 12 he met Wolfgang von Goethe and they became good friends.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opus 21 was written at 17 and inspired by Shakespeare.

Felix Mendelssohn attended Berlin University Between 1826 and After the University, he traveled around Europe writing several famous compositions.

Family Life Married to Cecile Jeanrenaud in They had five children together named Carl, Marie, Paul, Felix, and Lilli.

Harsh Reality of Death Father died in Mother died in Sister died in Felix died in 1847 as well. Many died from stroke.

Interesting Accomplishments Queen Victoria’s Favorite Wrote his “Scottish” Symphony for her Wedding March originally performed at royal wedding.

Mendelssohn is also accredited with bringing back Bach’s music during an era where Bach was not that popular.

1843: Founded the Leipzig Conservatory (felixmendelssohn.com).

Felix Mendelssohn was one of the biggest influences to come out of the 19 th century.

Symphony No. 4 in A Major, written in 1833 by Felix Mendelssohn

Composition History Mendelssohn wrote this composition while touring through much of Italy.. The instrumentation for the piece is typically 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and a whole string section.

Listening Guide: 0:00-0:01 1 st Movement: Allegro Vivace Introduction and first theme introduced. Major Mode in the key of A. 2/4 time.

0:31-1:02 0:31 The Bridge begins here. The violins play a hint of the original theme, also as if it is foreshadowing what’s to come. 1:02: The instruments begin to decrescendo again. The timpani is especially noticeable here as it plays its rolls and accents loudly with three notes.

1:15-2:06 1:15: The strings crescendo as they play a series of notes going down in pitch. They begin to play a quiet theme where the strings play in the harmony and the woodwinds play a melody. 2:06: The rest of the strings come in and play along with the melody. This gives the song a fuller feel to it.

2:15-2:45 2:15: The theme shifts a little bit where the clarinet plays the melody. The melody here has some darker tones, causing this part to be very different from the other, brighter parts to the movement. 2:45: There is a break where the woodwinds have an exchange of melodies, where a section of woodwinds play one melody, and a single clarinet plays a complimentary piece to them.

3:00-6:35 3:00: The original theme is played again, this time it is played almost exactly as at the very beginning of the song. 6:35: the music begins to decrescendo as it pronounces the second theme again, this time it is very loud with a lot of instruments playing the melody. The timpani help make it sound loud sound by accenting the down beats.

7:58-10:45 7:58: This is where the recapitulation occurs where the music is brought back to its original sound. The first theme is played again by the string instruments with the woodwinds playing in back as harmony. 10:45: This is where the coda starts. It is interesting in that it starts with the violins playing a succession of notes going lower, while the brass play notes getting higher. It then goes into the string instruments playing the first note of the song and playing on every down beat. It closes the song by playing on every other down beat.

Listening Guide: 0:05-1:05 4 th Movement: Saltarello: Presto. 0:05: This is where the exposition starts. The strings are playing the same note in a quick succession of four notes. The flutes play the harmony where at the end of each phrase the brass section compliments the last four notes by playing along. 1:05: This is the second theme where the woodwinds pick up to play the melody and the strings still in the background playing the harmony.

1:34-2:33 1:34: The string instruments began to play the theme with the flutes. The cellos and basses play pizzicato on the down beat until they began to decrescendo around 1:42. 2:33: This is about where the Development begins. This development changes a lot of the harmony throughout it. The melody comes back and forth. The strings and brass play most of this part.

3:46-5:25 3:46: This is the recapitulation part. They use the second theme to bring it back with the flutes and brass playing the harmony. They also bring it back with a slow building decrescendo helping to increase the intensity of the sound. 5:25: This is the big decrescendo part that brings about the final, and swift ending to this movement.

Works Cited Allmusic. Felix Mendelssohn Allmusic.com. Web, February 16 th, Counts, Jeff. Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony Program Notes. Utah Symphony. March Text, February 17 th, Encyclopedia Britannica. Felix Mendelssohn. Britannica.com Web, February 16 th, Felix Mendelssohn. Felix Mendelssohn Biography. Felixmendelssohn.com. November 25 th, Web, February 16 th, 2013.