Composed 1844; Duration: 27 minutes
First BPO Performance: January 23, 1945 (Mischa Elman, violin; Franco Autori, conductor)
Last BPO Performance: March 17-18, 2023 (Sandy Cameron, violin; JoAnn Falletta, conductor)
Born in 1809 to a prominent Hamburg banking family, Felix Mendelssohn was given access to the best musical education available beginning at a young age. While he excelled as a pianist, the transition to composition and conducting was easy. His myriad international connections facilitated a constantly busy schedule, and in 1835 he took a position as the music director of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position he held until his death twelve years later.
As a conductor, Mendelssohn happily championed the innovative music of his peers, but his personal musical outlook was largely reverential to the past, frequently uncovering the otherwise obscure music of composers like Bach. While his compositions were not on the cutting edge of progress, he cemented his legacy with strong Romantic-era workhorses like his E minor Violin Concerto, composed in collaboration with the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s concertmaster, Ferdinand David.
Friends since childhood, one of Mendelssohn’s first acts as the head of Leipzig’s top orchestra was appointing David as the principal violinist. Together, they conceived the new concerto in 1838, but Mendelssohn’s oppressive schedule dragged the project on for six years, during which time the two communicated frequently via the post, with David providing valuable technical feedback to the composer.
For years, Mendelssohn was haunted by a melody that finally made its way into the opening movement of the concerto. Peculiar in its abandonment of the traditional orchestral introduction, the work begins with the soloist immediately performing the opening Allegro’s theme, but the orchestra takes over after the violin deviates with brutally difficult exposed passages. A second theme briefly calms the waters, but the complex development leads to a grand cadenza, ending with an invigorating orchestral Presto.
The three movements of the concerto are connected without breaks. A sustained pitch in the bassoon transitions to a songlike Andante where a serene melody is juxtaposed by a minor-keyed middle section. An ornamented return to the original key is followed by a brief Allegretto diversion leading to the finale. As the brass announces the arrival of the A major finale, the soloist playfully interjects with a high-spirited theme that is spun throughout the finale. The violinist fills the movement with spritely exuberance, defying the minor-keyed opening until the final E major chord.