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Dear Kay,

I’ve got Mendelssohn on the brain recently. I heard the Scottish Symphony on the radio not long ago, and it was the most sublime thing I’d heard in a long time. So up top, to accompany your weekend knitting adventures, you’ll find this:

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Symphony no. 3 in A minor op. 56 “Scottish”

Philharmonia Orchestra

Otto Klemperer, conductor

I. Andante con moto – Allegro un poco agitato (0:00)

II. Scherzo (Vivace non troppo) (15:16)

III. Adagio (20:29)

IV. Allegro vivacissimo – Allegro maestoso assai (30:04)

Then, as I wandered the internet yelling “Felix! Where are you?” I came across this performance by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, aka That Other Music In Music City. It’s a concert celebrating the restoration of the Nashville Symphony Center after the disastrous 2010 flood that ruined much of the lovely new building. On the menu: a bit of Mendelssohn, “Overture to ‘The Fair Melusina,’” based on a fairy tale about a part-time mermaid.

During the flood of 2010, there were part-time mermaids to be found all over Nashville.

Love,

Ann

7 Comments

  • Adding Mendelssohn to the self-care list right now 🙂

    • Absolutely!

  • Historically, Mendelssohn and his family are very interesting. Grandfather (?) – Moses Mendelssohn, who was instrumental in forming what became known as Reform Judaism and the “Age of Enlightenment”; sister Fanny Mendelssohn herself a composer and an accomplished performer.

    and there is also his “Midsommer Night’s Dream” …. parts of which are burnished in popular culture (wedding recessional, anyone?) I love “Songs without Words.”

    Our NPR classical music station — WQXR (wqxr.org) – has a stream; just saying ….

    Happy Saturday! I’ll be listening to the Great American Songbook courtesy of Jonathon Schwartz on The Jonathon Channel/WNYC.

  • I’m so excited that you’re talking about Mendelssohn here! I love him AND his music. In fact, I even live in Leipzig, studied at the music conservatory he founded, and now translate for musicologists of an academic institution dedicated to Mendelssohn research. If you’re ever in this part of Germany, I’d be so hugely delighted to take you to his apartment, where they still hold Sunday morning chamber music matiinees as a continuation of sorts of the Mendelssohn family tradition. It’s a wonderful museum where you can see a restoration of his study, the watercolor paintings he made while traveling in Scotland and, … a lock of his hair.
    Also! Read his letters. You will love them.
    And! Listen to “Fingal’s Cave” to continue the Scottish theme.
    And! The string octet! the choral works! and his contributions to reviving and rescuing the music of J.S. Bach (another home town hero)! (I think you can hear the influence most clearly when he writes fugues.)
    !!!!!!!

  • Brilliant!!!! Thank you.

  • Beautiful …thank you.

  • This is one of my favorite symphonies! 🙂

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