FELIX MENDELSSOHN
(born 1809 in Hamburg; died 1847in Leipzig)

Sonata in F Major (1838)

1. Allegro vivace
2. Adagio
3. Assai vivace


Felix Mendelssohn was a prodigy, as was his sister Fanny, four years his senior. Born to a wealthy family of Jewish descent, he was surrounded by the best of academe and the culture of his time. He was blessed with strong influential contacts with great minds, such as Hegel and Goethe.

By his late teens, Mendelssohn had already composed two of his most important compositions: the Octet in E-flat Major and the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. His family had a private orchestra, which gave Mendelssohn the unusual privilege of composing and then hearing his creations performed during his developmental years.

For a number of reasons, the Mendelssohn family converted to Christianity, and added "Bartholdy" to their last name. The decision was made for mostly practical reasons as the family considered conversion a means of complete assimilation into society, embracing an enlightened life style.

Musically, Mendelssohn was a neo-classicist living in the age of Romanticism. Both as a composer and performer, he particularly looked up to J.S. Bach and other classicists. An advocate of counterpoint, his compositional style emphasized logic, the beauty of form, and elegance.

The most famous of Mendelssohn's violin works is the Concerto in E minor, a rather late work which he completed in 1844. He did write another concerto, in D minor, at the age of 13 in 1822, as well as three sonatas; one in F minor and two in F Major that date from 1820, 1825, and 1838 respectively. The 1838 Sonata was only rediscovered in 1952 by the late Yehudi Menuhin.

On first hearing the 1838 F Major Sonata, one recognizes melodies and passages that resemble other well-known Mendelssohn creations. While there are substantial contrasts between feeling and effect throughout, the three movements hold together nicely and the work remains coherent.

The first movement, Allegro vivace, opens directly with the statement of the first theme in the piano. Exuberant and gay, the sound texture resembles that of a small string orchestra. Note particularly how Mendelssohn keeps the forward motion with the use of a dotted note followed by a shorter one. (Sample 1.)

Sample 1 aaaa

This creates increased motion in the way certain notes are reached, prolonging some notes to make a point. Take two examples:

From the opening bars: (Sample 2.)

Sample 2

Example 1: To get from the first to the fourth chords of the piece, the second and third chords occur in the second beat. Had Mendelssohn given equal length to all chords, it would take an extra beat to get to the fourth chord. The progression of these chords is nothing extraordinary; Mendelssohn retains the interest of the listener by sheer manipulation of the rhythmic layout.

Example 2: The third full bar contains the sforzando F-Major chord. This note is the high point of the phrase, and in order to make the point he prolongs it to a dotted quarter followed by an eighth note, instead of two equal eighth notes, thus emphasizing the importance of the longer note.

The use of rhythm (Sample 1) is an important element throughout the movement. In the second theme, here it is again. (Sample 3.)

Sample 3

The movement becomes increasingly concerto-like for the two instruments with fast-moving sixteenth notes. This is not to say that the music sounds hectic-rather that it has an exhilarating effect. In most of the movement, the dominant and subservient lines are always clearly segregated. But as the end approaches, the consummation of the two parts finally occurs with both instruments playing an upward scale in unison.

The second movement, in A Major, is marked Adagio. This indication is more about the musical message than the speed of the notes. It feels peaceful and 'scenic'-a perfect musical representation of a Corot garden. This serenity is threatened by a mid-afternoon storm in the latter half of the movement, and the music turns somewhat improvisatory and dark, but only fleetingly. The opening melody returns in the piano, accompanied by an echo of the storm in the violin. Perhaps the storm was only a dream.

The last movement, Assai vivace, is as light as a feather. The movement is played in one non-stop sweep without ever becoming aggressive. Aristocratic and enlightened in character, the Sonata ends with eloquent brilliance.