There is a danger when discussing and writing about the concept of genius. Where does one draw the line? ‘The best is the enemy of the good’ (a phrase which used to infuriate the wife of a couple I knew whose extremely erudite husband used to control weeds with a strimmer rather than dig them up and remove them permanently, as he was obviously supposed to do), and genius has to be more than a subjective assessment. Similarly, what is a child prodigy? Many parents might be forgiven for considering their little darlings fall naturally into this category.  Who is qualified to assess somebody as being a genius? Is a genius simply somebody with a brilliant intellectual mind, or does this translate into the highest achieving sports people, ‘ooh ah Cantona’? (He was very very very good IMHO!)  I am not a genius, and will not attempt to answer these questions, but in composers and authors I think one can have opinions about who qualifies for the status and who does not, probably led to these opinions by academics, as much as assessed just by oneself. I would definitely not venture any opinions about what is great painting or sculpture, or other art outside music and literature.

Was Mozart a genius? I would say so.  Was Mozart a child prodigy? I would say yes without doubt.  Was Bach a genius? I would say so. Was Mendelssohn a child prodigy? I would say yes. What’s the Mendelssohn a genius? Hmm.  We have much to thank Mendelssohn for – not only the music he left us with but also because he was largely responsible for rediscovering the music of Bach, much of which, including the St. Matthew Passion, had been left unheard in a cupboard in Leipzig.  Bach had been almost forgotten since his death in 1750, and he was unknowingly regarded as a clever technician but not much more.  Through a small series of acquaintances from the Berlin Singakademie in which Mendelssohn sang, he was given a copy of the full score of the St. Matthew Passion (aged 15), and recognised that he was looking at a masterpiece.  He then set about a 5-year restoration of the work and presided over an historic performance in Berlin in 1829 which reignited interest in Bach’s music and led to the universal acclaim of his music today.   One might also think of a second revival of Bach over the last 50 years, during which the sound of Baroque and earlier composers was restored by the use of authentic copies of the instruments of the day, revolutionising the style of performing.  Mendelssohn later became a renowned conductor of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, one of the oldest surviving orchestras in the world today and the city of the famous Thomaskirche where Bach was organist.

I am going to write this week about a piece by Mendelssohn which is remarkable in its own right, and the more so because it was written when he was 16 years old.  I will make a few comments more as a listening guide, but, superb as the work is, the music speaks for itself.

Mendelssohn Octet in E flat, Op.20

1st Movement:  Andante moderato ma con fuoco
The freshness of this work is evident from the beginning and although the scoring is for a double string quartet (two each of the first and second violins, two violas and two cellos), a great deal of responsibility lies at the hands of the principal Violin, who plays much of the melody throughout. The entire movement bubbles with energy, and the often fast-moving inner parts could be thought of as similar to some of Bach’s Brandenburg concertos – sewing-machine action, though in a 19th century harmonic world.   Lesser composers have written music which might sound like Mendelssohn, but which lack the melodic quality which sustained much of what he wrote.  The 1st movement is in a traditional Sonata form, the opening section (Exposition) being repeated, a Development section using extended ideas from the Exposition, and the Recapitulation based on the Exposition but ending in the home key of E flat.  Very near its end, the Development section sighs with three falling notes repeated in the minor key.  The energy picks up and the entire ensemble plays fast moving scales in unison before scattering in two directions in the final bar, like a group of rabbits running in front of a car before dashing into the hedge on both sides. The Recapitulation starts exactly as did the beginning of the movement.  This final section deviates from the Exposition and is remarkable for the brilliant 20-bar first violin melody at the end, even longer than Schubert’s long melody at the opening of the final movement of his Octet (written a year earlier in 1824 for string quintet, clarinet, bassoon and horn).

2nd Movement: Andante
This is a movement of extraordinary depth, especially for a boy of 16.  It has characteristics of the final great works of Schubert…his String Quintet in C, the last 3 quartets, the song cycle Winterreise and the final B flat Piano Sonata.  Schubert had been ill for some years and his ‘late’ works could be considered to be the writing of an old man after a long life, but he was only 31 when he died, and 30 when he wrote much of this sublime music.  (Genius!).  When Mendelssohn was later Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus he revived interest in Schubert, and premiered his 9th symphony 10 years after Schubert’s death.

The time signature of the slow movement of Mendelssohn’s Octet is 6/8, and the key is C minor, the relative minor to E flat major, though at the beginning it immediately moves away and is constantly shifting.  It is built in two halves, each divided into two parts to form an ABAB structure.  The second part (B) is very Schubertian with its sad, falling melody, and leads to a striking finish in E flat major with scales simultaneously rising and falling, reminiscent perhaps of the Recordare from Mozart’s Requiem.  The opening section (A) returns using the 2nd idea from its first outing and further extended, before the scale passage returns in C major, with Schubertian diversions of key into A flat major, a favourite device of Haydn and Schubert moving to the flattened submediant.

(The submediant is the 6th degree of the scale. In C major that means the note A, so the flattened A is what we have here, effectively a key falling a major third if you want to look at it another way. Brahms’ First Symphony was in C minor and each new movement started a major third higher than its preceding movement C minor ï‚® E major ï‚® A flat major ï‚® C minor/major). 
One does not need to be too technical listening to this.  Enjoy it for what it is – a really outstanding composition.

3rd Movement: Allegro leggierissimo
This is a skittish scherzo, though not in the traditional triple time of the Minuet-type scherzo.  Similar in character to his later Midsummer Night’s Dream, with high speed action and pianissimo throughout.  It demands a high level of skill and integration (as does all chamber music!) between the players, and is one of those one-off pieces which serve to make the entire Octet remarkable.  It is built in a sonata-form in G minor, but that is a structure for composer-discipline, and is not important for the enjoyment of listening.  It is as though eight butterflies were dancing around each other, wafer thin throughout, and flutters off at the end in a diminuendo. Utterly inspired and brilliant!

4th Movement: Presto
Another busy affair with each instrument in turn stating the opening theme…starting with the 2nd cello and moving up through each instrument as it joins the affray.  I hesitate to call it a theme as it is rather hard to make it out at the start on the cello if not already known.  The structure is fugue-like, rather than a strictly organised procedure as one would find in Bach.  A more emphatic repeated 7-note unison melody is introduced which is then also subject to later decoration and development. The initial fast semiquaver action later serves as a background to some more lyrical phrases.  I come back to Schubert and the finale of the ‘Great’ C Major Symphony with its 5 repeated-note theme, and to all the activity which takes place in that finale. Here in Mendelssohn’s Octet, all instruments have their opportunity to shine independently, but again the first violin takes most of the melodic strain. Further short arpeggiaic themes serve as vehicles for much contrapuntal writing. 

Giving more written detail would not add to the impact of this final movement, as finely-crafted as the rest of the work.  Occasionally Mendelssohn brings it to a warm lyrical look over his shoulder, but the action persists almost without interruption.

Mendelssohn was born into a family of great wealth and culture, and he was nurtured from the beginning by doting parents.  Goethe heard him play the piano at the age of seven, as he had heard Mozart at the same age nearly 50 years earlier.  He pronounced them both geniuses, and may even have thought that Mendelssohn surpassed Mozart.  This Octet is as good as anything Mendelssohn wrote, free of inhibition but having the skills and spontaneous warmth of the finest.  He did not seem to develop to the same heights as his illustrious predecessors.  I would happily conduct Elijah every week of the year. I love it and choir singers love it. Orchestral players would not be as keen and would generally prefer to be off the stage about an hour before they are!  This is in marked contrast to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and B minor Mass.  Mendelssohn seemed to get stuck and as his life progressed, and he didn’t quite produce the gravity to go with the undoubted intellect.  Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Bach all had their great struggles, and Mendelssohn’s life was largely happy and comfortable. 

That said, Mendelssohn’s music deserves a place at the high table.  The Italian and Scottish symphonies, Hebrides Overture, Midsummer Night’s Dream are all fine works, and the great oratorios Elijah and St. Paul contain wonderful music, even if they rather run out of impact (but not musical quality) through lack of a sustained drama. 

As I said in my first blog about Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, we are definitely in Tigger territory.  Mendelssohn’s Octet is unquestionably a masterpiece and I hope you enjoy listening to it.

You can follow the score in a rather quick and old-fashioned and relentless performance led by Jascha Heifetz, with some superb players including the cellists Gregor Piatigorsky and William Primrose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrITNrgQHuE

A more relaxed performance from I Musici
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfeVaK0yeM

and several others on YouTube, some with better sound but I am wary of the first violin being overwhelmed.

I hope you enjoy the final month of summer – where did that suddenly go?  Let’s also hope that we can get back together before long.

Richard