Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Parte 1 

+edan mendelson it´s an Hymn called - O for the wings of a dove - from Hear my Prayer.

Thanks!

***** LOL!!!!

If you think my statement is funny, list one innovative thing Mendelssohn ever did. Innovation is part of being a a great artist. As for the list of A and B composers compiled by musicologist he is usually at the top of the B list. I personally think Mendelssohn composed a few A list pieces,but very few and they do not include any of his symphonies. The symphonies all written after Beethoven are pretty dull, small in scope and embarrassing when compared to the master. His oratorios are second rate Handel and his piano music does not match Chopin or Schumann. Here is a real B guy.

***** Mendelssohn was a harmonically and rhythmically conservative composer, and he was borderline original. (you hear traces of Bach, Handel and Schubert) in his music. He in no way compares to Schumann. and he could not stand in the same room as the genius Schubert. For his time, his orchestration was not in the same class as Berlioz, or Von Weber. He wrote some great music, but not particularly deep music. Some critics point out that perhaps he had it too good. There was very little struggle in his life. I like Mendelssohn, and I always am amazed at the craftsmanship and finish of his music. But I am not blown over by his ideas.

***** I agree.

+shnimmuc: The most innovative work by Mendelssohn is his violin concerto in Em, check the analyses for more information. He coined the term "song without words", a pioneer in using baton, and he composed the very first viola sonata. There is no tone poem in his work list as you said, but his concert overtures have their independent life and foresees the symphonic poems.

If by "B" you mean second-string, ahhh no. Mendelssohn was a genius on the Mozart level -- his juvenilia (which are hardly that, given both his short life and the degree of sophistication they show) alone justify this estimate. His later works (the oratorios, the concertos) confirm the early promise. To put it another way -- Mendelssohn is probably the most underestimated and under-represented genius in the concert hall. He is certainly a better technician than more "popular" composers (Schubert and Tchaikovsky spring immediately to mind). But audiences are not swayed by technique, sadly.

@@josephbarbarie692 There is no one I of in academia that I know of that would agree with your view. Mendelssohn was a gifted but never developed much beyond his youth into an original mature composer. His symphonies alone are pathetic besides those of Beethoven or late Schubert. ,

@@shnimmuc If you are unable to detect the developmental arc from something like the String Symphonies to the "Italian" or "Scottish" symphony, or "Elijah," then I am afraid this discussion will profit neither of us. As for the argument from academia, two questions: 1. What academics have specifically cast aspersion on Mendelssohn? and, 2. To the extent academics have leveled that charge, I can only reply that those academics have been shielded from market forces which naturally hone a genius's such as M's. Mendelssohn's reputation is only slowly recovering lost ground because of the rise of serious anti-semitism during the years immediately his death (to wit, the era of Wagner). During the second half of the 19th century, Germany was the chief purveyor of symphonic music, and of course, had no interest in exporting the music of the Jewish-born Mendelssohn. The comparison with Schubert also does not argue in Schubert's favor -- and we may be arguing taste here. But are you really trying to compare the bloviation of the 4th movement of Schubert's big C Major symphony with the punchiness and economy of expression of anything in Mendelssohn's symphonic catalogue? Even his "Reformation" symphony, in which form seems to burst at its seams, is compact by comparison.

@@josephbarbarie692 Elijah is 3rd rate Handel (some parts are an embarrassment) the symphonies are 3rd rate Beethoven. If you cannot tell the difference then I am wasting my time writing you. Mendelssohn wrote a great violin concerto, a couple of fine overtures, the M.S.N. dream music and the youthful Octet. That is it as far as I am concerned. Many historians agree with me. PS. Also, he is never rated in the top 10 composers.

​@@shnimmucyou're wrong. I'm a music PhD, and I know several Mendelssohn scholars who've published ground breaking studies that confirm Mendelssohn as a supremely brilliant composer, not a B composer. You're only revealing your own limited hearing and ignorance here.