Mendelssohn: A Life in MusicOxford University Press, 23/10/2003 - 736 páginas An extraordinary prodigy of Mozartean abilities, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a distinguished composer and conductor, a legendary pianist and organist, and an accomplished painter and classicist. Lionized in his lifetime, he is best remembered today for several staples of the concert hall and for such popular music as "The Wedding March" and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Now, in the first major Mendelssohn biography to appear in decades, R. Larry Todd offers a remarkably fresh account of this musical giant, based upon painstaking research in autograph manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, and paintings. Rejecting the view of the composer as a craftsman of felicitous but sentimental, saccharine works (termed by one critic "moonlight with sugar water"), Todd reexamines the composer's entire oeuvre, including many unpublished and little known works. Here are engaging analyses of Mendelssohn's distinctive masterpieces--the zestful Octet, puckish Midsummer Night's Dream, haunting Hebrides Overtures, and elegiac Violin Concerto in E minor. Todd describes how the composer excelled in understatement and nuance, in subtle, coloristic orchestrations that lent his scores an undeniable freshness and vividness. He also explores Mendelssohn's changing awareness of his religious heritage, Wagner's virulent anti-Semitic attack on Mendelssohn's music, the composer's complex relationship with his sister Fanny Hensel, herself a child prodigy and prolific composer, his avocation as a painter and draughtsman, and his remarkable, polylingual correspondence with the cultural elite of his time. Mendelssohn: A Life offers a masterful blend of biography and musical analysis. Readers will discover many new facets of the familiar but misunderstood composer and gain new perspectives on one of the most formidable musical geniuses of all time. |
Índice
Apprenticed Prodigy 18201821 | |
The Second Mozart 18211822 | |
From Apprentice to Journeyman 18231824 | |
The Prodigys Voice 18251826 | |
The Apostles Voice 18351837 | |
Musical Biedermeier 18371839 | |
Leipzig vs Berlin 18401841 | |
From Kapellmeister to Generalmusikdirektor 18411842 | |
Portrait of a Prussian Musician 18431844 | |
Years of Triumph 18441846 | |
Elijahs Chariot 18461847 | |
Abbreviations | |
In the Public Eye 18271829 | |
Amateur Gentleman 1829 | |
Wanderlust 18301832 | |
Düsseldorf Beginnings 18321835 | |
Bibliography | |
Index of Mendelssohns Works | |
General Index | |
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Palavras e frases frequentes
Abraham Allegro Andante appeared April aria August autograph Bach’s bass Beethoven’s Berlin cantata Carl Cécile chorale chords chorus composer composer’s composition concert counterpoint December Devrient duet Düsseldorf edition Eduard Elijah Fanny Hensel Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny’s February Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Felix to Lea festival final Frankfurt Friedrich fugue G minor German Gewandhaus Goethe Goethe’s Handel’s Henriette Hiller Ibid J. S. Bach January July June Klingemann later Leipzig Letters libretto Lied ohne Worte Lieder Lieder ohne Worte London major March Marx melody Midsummer Night’s Dream Moscheles Moses Moses Mendelssohn movement Mozart musicians November numbers NYPL October opera oratorio orchestra organ Overture partsongs Paul Paulus performed pianist Piano Concerto played premiere Prussian Psalm published Rebecka rehearsals Robert Schumann scherzo Schubring score September Singakademie solo soloists song soprano String Quartet Symphony theme Trio verses violin visited Ward Jones Weber Werner Wilhelm Wilhelm Hensel Zelter