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MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY,
Felix, 1809 -1847
Violinkonzert E-Moll Opus 64. Faksimile nach dem Autograph der Bibliotheka Jagiellońska, Kraków. Mit einem Kommentar von Stefan Drees
[Concerto, violin, orch, op.64, E minor]
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Meisterwerke der Musik im Faksimile, 10. Laaber, 2010. Oblong, 32 x 24 cm, xii, 68 pp. Full-color facsimile of the autograph score dated 16 September 1844. Mendelssohn's popular “Concerto for Violin in E Minor op.64”, a mainstay in the concerto repertoire didn't have an easy birth and is known in two versions, the sole surviving autograph of 1844—reproduced here in facsimile—and the printed edition of 1845, a more brilliant version incorporating many of the changes suggested by Ferdinad David, dedicatee of the piece and his concertmaster at Leipzig. On July 30, 1838, the composer wrote to him: “I would like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor goes through my head and the beginning will not leave me in peace." David encouraged Mendelssohn but also expressed a desire for it to be ostentatious, a suitable showcase for the violinist's talents. Mendelssohn was not used to flamboyance for its own sake and this wish conflicted with his musical temperament, prolonging the writing of the concerto. More than six years later with only three months before it was to be performed he confided to David: “Do not laugh at me too much. I feel ashamed in any case, but I cannot help it. I am just groping around.” It was finally premiered on 13 March 1845 and published shorly thereafter by Breitkopf & Härtel. There are well over 100 changes between the two versions, mostly issues concerning tempo, orchestration, and solo parts. While some are outright shocking, where Mendelssohn has taken in the final version the solo line up or down an octave, added entirely new notes to the violin part, or slightly changed the wind writing, no matter which version is considered both are pure Mendelssohn, and all the magical elements that make the Violin Concerto what it is, that make it so beloved and so popular, are completely intact. Commentary in Ger-Eng. Linen. Issued on the occasion of the bicentenary of the composer’s birth. Hardbound with dark blue boards. $177 (view other
volumes from this series)
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