Symphony 4 - Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Allegro vivace: Andante con moto: Con moto moderato: Saltarello - Presto

Although by coincidence both Nielsen's Flute Concerto and Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony have strong associations with Italy, the composers’ circumstances could hardly have been more contrasted. Mendelssohn's grandfather, Moses, was a distinguished philosopher and his father, Abraham, a wealthy banker who aptly observed that he was destined to go down in history as his father's son and his son's father. Felix Mendelssohn, his artistic sister Fanny and the other children, Paul and Rebekka, enjoyed a privileged childhood and the finest education: they mixed with the rich and famous and travelled widely. Felix, with his prodigious gift for composition, even had the luxury of a private orchestra at his disposal to try out his works every fortnight at home in Berlin. Here his rapidly developing skills were honed; twelve string symphonies showed his increasing sureness of touch and subtlety.

Shortly after his fifteenth birthday he produced his first major symphony which, although a youthful work, merited serious consideration as his Opus 1. A year later, by now at the peak of his inspiration, he wrote the sublime String Octet and at seventeen the brilliant Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream. Starting his twenty-first year, Mendelssohn was sent out into the world by his father with the instruction, "To examine the various countries closely and to fix on one where I wished to live. I was to make my name and gifts known, and was to press forward in my work."

He first came to Britain where he was inspired to write the Hebrides Overture and the Scottish Symphony and left an impression that influenced the arts here for the rest of the century. Indeed, Mendelssohn, with his catholic tastes and evangelism for neglected composers such as Bach, left no less a profound impression on the whole of European music. Few composers can claim as important a friend as the great German poet Goethe. In a letter to a former teacher, Carl Zelter, Mendelssohn says, "I often played to Goethe in the morning hours. He wanted to get an idea of how music has developed and wishes to hear the music of different composers in chronological order. He seemed rather wary of Beethoven; but I could not spare him this acquaintance because he had to hear where sounds had turned to, so I played him the first movement of the C minor Symphony, which he liked very much. He was delighted with the overture by Bach, the one in D major with the trumpets". At Goethe's suggestion Mendelssohn continued his travels in Italy where he wrote the serene First Piano Concerto and began work on the Italian Symphony. He returned home with the symphony unfinished finding dissatisfaction with the first and last movements.

An invitation to present a new symphony at a concert of the London Philharmonic Society encouraged him to finish his Italian score which was performed on the 13th May, 1833 to great acclaim. Mendelssohn still felt his symphony was flawed but he was alone in his doubts; critics have often called this a perfect work, many noting that the last movement is a gem. Surprisingly, the symphony was not performed in Germany until two years after the composer's death, eventually reaching publication in 1851. Mendelssohn wrote that the symphony was a microcosm of Italy: its people, landscapes and art. The first movement, suggestive of a Tarantella dance, is beautifully constructed in true classical style. The second movement is reminiscent of a pilgrim's march, possibly reflecting the composer's experience of a religious procession in Naples. The following flowing and melodic minuet and trio movement has an easy charm while the finale, marked Saltarello, is inspired by a lively Neapolitan country-dance.

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