Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor (Part I)

A lot of composers flourished during the Romantic period of classical music. It was at this time, the feeling ruled over the restrictions of composition. 'Head over heart', is what used to describe the way composers created masterpieces. It was this period where piano playing and violin techniques reached a newer level of virtuosity by Franz Liszt (piano) and Niccolo Paganini (violin). Since then compositions which require dazzling virtuosity emerge, such as Tchaikovsky's 3 piano concertos, or Rachmaninov's piano concertos. On the violin there are Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto, and of course, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. We could say that with Paganini every violin compositions changed; with Liszt every piano compositions changed.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was a child prodigy, even surpassing Mozart in compositional precocity, making him the most precocious composer the world has ever known. By 14, he already had his 12 string symphonies completed. While by the age of 17, he had already written his mature Overture to his Midsummer's Night Dream, consolidating his place among the great composers. As if not enough, he proved himself to be prodigious in both violin and piano. To add on the list, he was a strong swimmer, a talented poet, a multi-linguist, and a painter. It was said he was such a philosopher that he could compete with the Berlin University professors!

Mendelssohn's style is easily distinguishable, due to the feeling of lightness and an elfin quality which no one could imitate. His works cover most of the feelings, ranging from freshness to melancholy, but avoid any hint of extremity. This is clearly seen in his Songs Without Words, on solo piano, where Mendelssohn created miniatures with different moods. Many critics say that Mendelssohn started as a genius, but ended as a talent, this is true to a sense, but his Violin Concerto, Op.64 may prove all the notions stated behind wrong.

Mendelssohn finished his only Violin Concerto in 1844, merely 3 years before his death. In this violin concerto, Mendelssohn recaptured his teenage freshness again, but this time he wrote it with full maturity. It was a painstaking work for Mendelssohn -- it took him 6 years to complete the concerto. Even after the first version was published, Mendelssohn submitted it to endless revision, mainly due to his dissatisfaction and his striving for perfection. This masterpiece was written for the violin virtuoso Ferdinand David, that time the concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, where Mendelssohn himself was the principal conductor. Mendelssohn had known David at the age of 16, where Ferdinand David was just a mere 15-year-old violinist. They both kept in touch since then through streams of letters.

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