Mendelssohn in vaccation

[gprengel]

In the years 1844 and 1845 Mendelssohn spent the summer in Bad Soden and Kronberg, nearby little towns of Frankfurt, Germany, at the foot of the Taunus hills. Here he composed one of greatest works - the Violin Concerto in e minor and started composing the Elias oratorio. Eventhough I live only 40 kilometers away from it I was not aware of this until now. Here I present some pictures which I took there - the house where he was living and the beautiful area between Bad Soden and Kronstadt where he made extensive walks.

www.gerdprengel.de/badsoden.html

Gerd

[Peter]

Thanks very much for sharing that with us - wasn't he simply amazingly gifted at everything! Wonderful man.

[Chris]

Yes, thanks very much for sharing these. The Violin Concerto in E minor is my favorite work of his!

[Peter]

Yes, thanks very much for sharing these. The Violin Concerto in E minor is my favorite work of his!

I think my favourites are the Hebrides overture and the 3rd symphony (Scottish) - just love the wild passionate evocation of the beautiful Scottish landscape.

[gprengel]

I think my favourites are the Hebrides overture and the 3rd symphony (Scottish) - just love the wild passionate evocation of the beautiful Scottish landscape.

Yes, they are awesome, but I personally love the 5th symphony (Reformation symphony) the most. Why is it generally not so appreciated? The slow movement is very simple but sooo beautiful - not to mention the awsesome Finale. Then I love the string quartetts in a-minor and f-minor and the c-minor piano Trio which I adore as much as Beethoven. And then this fantastic new recorded 3rd piano concerto in e-minor which I mentioned in a recent thread. I also discovered just recently his "Christus Oratorium" fragment which has some most beautiful chorusses.
Right now I am obsessed with Mendelssohn :-))

Gerd

[Peter]

Yes, they are awesome, but I personally love the 5th symphony (Reformation symphony) the most. Why is it generally not so appreciated? The slow movement is very simple but sooo beautiful - not to mention the awsesome Finale. Then I love the string quartetts in a-minor and f-minor and the c-minor piano Trio which I adore as much as Beethoven. And then this fantastic new recorded 3rd piano concerto in e-minor which I mentioned in a recent thread. I also discovered just recently his "Christus Oratorium" fragment which has some most beautiful chorusses.
Right now I am obsessed with Mendelssohn :-))

Gerd

Quite rightly so! He has been so neglected and his reputation damaged terribly by Wagner and the general anti-semitism of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He deserves this rehabilitation which I think is happening now. I agree with all your choices - there is much to admire in the chamber music especially.

[gprengel]

Wagner and Mendelssohn

Quite rightly so! He has been so neglected and his reputation damaged terribly by Wagner and the general anti-semitism of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

It is really tragic, but I read that one reason why Wagner hated Mendelssohn
was this: In the 1830s he still admired Mendelssohn (especially the Hebrides overture and the coda of the 1st mov. of the Scottisch symphony was the storm pattern Wagner used in the overture of the Flying Dutchman) and so he sent him a symphony in E Major but never got a response by Mendelssohn. Maybe the mail got lost, ... but since this he devoloped a great resentment towards Mendelssohn and anti-semitism!!

Gerd

[Sorrano]

I did not realize that Mendelssohn was still being neglected. As long as I can remember he has been a major part of my own classical music upbringing; I've always considered him among the greats of the 19th Century.

[Peter]

I did not realize that Mendelssohn was still being neglected. As long as I can remember he has been a major part of my own classical music upbringing; I've always considered him among the greats of the 19th Century.

The attitude in Europe has been very different and Mendelssohn is only slowly emerging from the attitude of sentimental salon composer. Yes there are some old favourites, but there is an enormous quantity of unknown pieces such as the fine chamber music already mentioned. How often do the Songs without words appear on recital programmes?

[gprengel]

one further word on Wagner and Mendelssohn:
inspite of Wagner's hatred towards Mendelssohn with addition to the works I mentioned above which were important for Wagner, he used the tender introductory theme of Mendelssohn's Reformation symphony and made it the main theme of the Parsifal.

And Wagner's wife Cosima described how Wagner being an old man one day woke up strucked by a dream where Mendelssohn called him "Du" (German word for "you", which is used by friends instead of the more formal word "Sie").

Today I was again in Bad Soden, this time I was even in the Mendelssohn house which is a noble Italian Restaurant now where we had a wonderful pizza.
I talked to the owner of the Restaurant. He lives in the appartment in the first floor where Mendelssohn with his wife and 5 children was living. I went up there but didn't dare to to ask whether I could take a look into the appartment... ;-)
We also went to a viewpoint ("drei Linden") where Mendelssohn painted these old trees. These trees still stand there but by with a much bigger size than on the paintings of Mendelssohn. It was funny to compare the painting with actual view of today

Gerd

[Sorrano]

I've been reading a book on the history of American music (it was published shortly after the first World War) and this lists major musical events (according to the author, of course). Mendelssohn gets a lot of attention throughout the 19th Century, lots of performances, etc. There was no neglect here during that period!

(On a side note I've not seen any references to Charles Ives, but have just finished reading about the 19th Century.)