Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings (Mendelssohn)

The Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Strings in D minor, MWV O4 was written in 1823 by Felix Mendelssohn when he was 14 years old.^[1] Mendelssohn composed the work to be performed for a private concert in Berlin with his violin teacher and friend, Eduard Rietz. Following this private performance, Mendelssohn revised the scoring, adding winds and timpani. A public performance was given on July 3, 1823 at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Like the A minor Piano Concerto, it remained unpublished during Mendelssohn's lifetime. It wasn't until 1999 when a modern edition of the piece was available.

Structure

Many works by several composers influenced Mendelssohn's composition of this piece. It is likely that Mendelssohn drew this unusual pairing of solo piano and violin from Johann Hummel's own Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Orchestra in G major, Op. 17, whom he had studied with. The young Mendelssohn was also influenced by Carl Maria von Weber and the concerto's structure is similar to his Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 32. The concerto is scored for: strings (original),

There are three movements:

1. Allegro (D minor)
2. Adagio (A major)
3. Allegro molto (D minor)

Allegro

The Allegro movement is in the traditional concerto sonata-allegro form of the Classical era. It begins with an orchestral tutti that presents the themes that will be expanded upon throughout the movement. The main theme is reminiscent of Bach's style and recalls the Baroque era, with counterpoint and clear harmonic structure. It also seems to reflect the various counterpoint exercises given to Mendelssohn by his counterpoint mentor, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Following the first theme, the second theme is introduced in F major and is very lyrical, with hints of Romanticism. As the second theme ends, Mendelssohn returns to the strict counterpoint of the first theme. As the orchestra approaches a soft cadence, the piano solo abruptly begins with an arpeggio marked più Lento . The violin solo enters and mimics the piano, and both instruments play together in harmony. After a short transition to F major filled with running passages and demanding arpeggios from both soli, the second theme begins. The violin has the melody while the piano plays a lyrical accompaniment figure. The second theme explores various keys and returns right back to F major as it comes to an end. The orchestra takes over shortly and the solo instruments enter again, mimicking each other in an incredibly balanced duo, closing the exposition.

After a lyrical orchestral tutti that explores many different keys, the development section begins. However, unlike a typical Classical era concerto, the development begins with a recitative section in D-flat major without orchestral accompaniment. This recitative section clearly alludes to Mozart's operas, with the violin singing as a soprano and the piano mimicking orchestral tremolo. As the recitative section ends, the tempo picks up and the orchestra re-enters. The rest of the development contains sequences of octave passages and arpeggios from the piano, demanding string-crossings from the solo violin, and virtuosic sixteenth-note passages from both instruments.

The recapitulation includes a restatement of the opening sequence, this time with the second theme in D major and ending in D minor. The movement ends with a highly virtuosic cadenza that Mendelssohn wrote himself. In the cadenza, both instruments play a combination of lyrical melodies and difficult counterpoint that comes to a riveting end. In Mendelssohn's manuscript, he had written an alternate cadenza.

Adagio

This movement is in ternary form and in A major, the dominant of D minor. The orchestral tutti beings with a beautiful melody in the style of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words".

References