Music Director
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, op. 64, in e minor.
German composer Felix Mendelssohn, like Johannes Brahms, placed a high value on the classical, symmetrical forms of the composers who came before him.
The Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time. Mendelssohn had originally promised a violin concerto in 1838 to Ferdinand David, a close friend who was a talented violinist. However, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until the following year in 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, seeking his advice with the concerto. The work itself was one of the first violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential to the compositions of many other composers. The concerto has three movements in a standard fast–slow–fast structure and each movement follows a traditional form.
The concerto was innovative and included many novel features for its time. Distinctive aspects of the concerto include the immediate entrance of the violin at the beginning of the work and the linking of the three movements, with each movement immediately following the previous one. The concerto was initially well received and soon became regarded as one of the greatest violin concertos of all time. The concerto remains popular and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. Many professional violinists have recorded the concerto and the work is regularly performed in concerts and classical music competitions.
Notes by Beth Bergman Fisher