Symphony No. 5 (Mendelssohn)

TheSymphony No. 5in D major/D minor,Op.107, known as theReformation, was composed byFelix Mendelssohnin 1830 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of theAugsburg Confession. The Confession is a key document ofLutheranismand its Presentation toEmperor Charles Vin June 1530 was a momentous event of theProtestant Reformation. This symphony was written for a full orchestra and was Mendelssohn's second extended symphony. It was not published until 1868, 21 years after the composer's death – hence its numbering as '5'. Although the symphony is not very frequently performed, it is better known today than when it was originally published. Mendelssohn's sister,Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, chose the nameReformationSymphony.[1] History In December 1829, a year before the King ofPrussiaFrederick William IIIhad even announced the tercentennial Augsburg celebrations, Mendelssohn began work on the Reformation Symphony. Mendelssohn hoped to have it performed at the festivities in Berlin which took place on 25 June 1830. He had intended to finish the composition by January 1830 and tour for four months before the celebrations began in June. However, his ill health caused the Reformation Symphony to take longer to compose than he had initially expected. In late March the symphony was still in a state of fabrication, and in an inauspicious turn of events Mendelssohn caught measles from his sisterRebecka. With a further delay of the composing and touring, Mendelssohn eventually completed the symphony in May. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Augsburg commission to recognize the symphony for the celebrations. Some authorities have suggested thatantisemitismmay have played a role in the symphony's absence from Augsburg. But the successful competitor,Eduard Grell, had already established himself as a competent and successful composer who was gaining considerable popularity in Berlin. Grell was extremely conservative in his compositions; his piece for male chorus perhaps matched what the Augsburg celebrations demanded, in contrast to Mendelssohn's extensive symphony, which may have been thought inappropriate at the time.[2] Mendelssohn resumed his touring immediately after he had completed the Reformation Symphony. In Paris, in 1832,François Antoine Habeneck's orchestra turned the work down as 'too learned'; the music historian Larry Todd suggests that perhaps they also felt it to be too Protestant.[3]He did not offer the symphony for performance atLondon. During the summer of 1832, Mendelssohn returned to Berlin where he revised the symphony. Later that year a performance of the Reformation Symphony finally took place.[4]By 1838 however Mendelssohn regarded the symphony as 'a piece ofjuvenilia', and he never performed it again. It was not performed again until 1868, more than 20 years after the composer's death.[5]

摘自:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No.5(Mendelssohn)

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Mendelssohn)

Mendelssohn'sPiano Concerto No. 1inG minor,Op.25, was written in 1830–31, around the same time as hisfourth symphony("Italian"), and premiered inMunichin October 1831. This concerto was composed in Rome during a travel in Italy after the composer met a pianist in Munich. Mendelssohn attended one party after another in Munich in October 1831, the month of the premiere, but he also playedchamber musicand taughtdouble counterpoint. He performed the piece himself at the premiere, which also included performances of hisSymphony No. 1and the Overture fromMidsummer Night's Dream.[1]He had already written a piano concerto in A minor with string accompaniment (1822) and two concertos with two pianos (1823–24). Structure The three connected movements use several relatively new formal techniques in their brief span — for example, the piano enters very soon after the opening of the first movement, with little of an orchestraltuttito contrast with.[2]The concerto quickly obtained popularity, and contains many sections of improvisation, one of Mendelssohn's specialities; it is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. 1.Molto allegro con fuocoin G minor 2.Andantein E major 3.Presto—Molto allegro e vivacein G major

摘自:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.1(Mendelssohn)