Felix Mendelssohn

   German composer and pianist

   born: 3 February 1809, Hamburg; died: 4 November 1847, Leipzig

              Concerto for Violin in E Minor, Op.64

                    Allegro molto appassianata

                    Andante

                    Allegretto non troppo

     Mendelssohn completed his Violin Concerto in 1844, a work that had lingered from 1838, initially mentioned in a letter to the violinist Ferdinand David: "I must write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor is running in my head, and the beginning of it never gives me a moment's peace." But Opus 64 would not be completed until 1844, following a long process of revision, a departure from Mendelsssohn's relatively quick pen.

     A very brief moment precedes the enchanting theme in E minor. Marked molto appassionata, the tune could readily stand in as one of the composer's 'songs without words.' The melody is pleading but determined in tone, anxious in tempo and lyrical in spirit. A general sonata-allegro form emerges to the point of the breathtaking cadenza, a masterful tour de force with nervous trills and double stops, but which never concedes its poetic nature. The splendid energy maintains through to the beginning of the second movement Andante, which continues without pause. Here sustained colors in the orchestra intone placid G major, upon which the soloist weaves an exquisite aria - a valentine of a kind - drifting, dreamy and solitary.

     In the third movement, the soloist briefly reflects the earlier mood, recalling fragments from the first movement. But in a moment the brass announce that something is up, as the Allegretto solo line takes to the high virtuoso winds in E major. Off-the-string here, on-the-string there - the music is replete with coy virtuosity, spinning and swirling over the buoyant orchestra - spectacular and joyful to the close.

     Violin buffs might enjoy the commentary of the great violinist Josef Joachim (to whom Brahms had dedicated his own violin concerto):

     "The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, the one that makes fewest concessions, is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms comes close to Beeethoven's in its seriousness. Max Bruch wrote the richest and most enchanting of the four. But the dearest of them all, the heart's jewel, is the concerto by Felix Mendelssohn."

program notes by Edward Yadzinsky