Notes for: August 11, 2015
Mendelssohn was arguably the most precocious young composer in the history of western music. When he was only 16 years old, he composed his still unsurpassed String Octet - not even Mozart produced a work of such maturity at so early an age. By comparison, Beethoven was a “late bloomer,” not releasing his first music for publication – his three Piano Trios, Opus 1 – until his 25th year.
While the octet, because of its unique character as a piece for eight instruments, became the most prominent of Mendelssohn’s teenage compositions, it was far from being the only one. Felix’s father, a wealthy Berlin banker, made a practice of inviting professional musicians to his home on Sunday mornings to join the family and its friends in informal music-making. These weekly concerts gave the young composer a “workshop” in which to experiment with his creative ideas, and he responded with unbounded enthusiasm and productivity.
But this arrangement had one limitation. In those days, wind players were considered socially inferior, and the Sunday visitors were all string and piano players. Mendelssohn’s early instrumental works, consequently, were for strings alone or for strings with piano. By the time he was 18, he had turned out, in addition to the octet, a piano trio, three piano quartets, three string quartets, a string quintet, twelve “string symphonies” and this sextet for piano and strings.
Thus, the sextet’s opus number, 110, is misleading. In fact, Mendelssohn produced the sextet in 1824 at the age of 15, one year before the path-breaking octet. However, perhaps because of its unusual instrumentation involving only one violin but two violas and a string bass, Mendelssohn put the work aside, and it was published only in 1868 as part of a posthumous edition of all his works. The sextet is still overshadowed in the concert hall by the octet, and performances of it are far less frequent.
The sextet is clearly the work of a young composer still studying the models of Haydn and Mozart. But Mendelssohn was already a published composer with a growing reputation, and the sextet embodies the craftsmanship that was to become a Mendelssohn trademark. In particular, the last two movements are the efforts of a confident young man eager to show off his originality and nerve before his elders. Further, the brilliance and prominence of the piano parts suggest that he was also showing off his keyboard skill.
The first movement, allegro vivace, is in classical sonata form with two main themes and a formal development. The strings launch the first theme, but it is soon taken over by the piano, and eventually the piano presents the second song-like theme. The piano dominates the movement with the strings mainly in the background or emphasizing the piano’s line. After the restatement of the themes, there is a long coda with even more piano arpeggios and scales.
The second movement, adagio, is in effect a dialogue between the piano and muted strings. The muted strings start the proceedings, with the piano in response. In a contrasting middle section, the piano provides light passages against softly pulsating strings.
The third movement is entitled Menuetto, but in an abrupt departure from the traditional minuet pattern, it is marked agitato, and is in a tense 6/8 rhythm and minor mode. The trio is closer to convention, but is seasoned with chromatic (half-tone) scales.
The fourth movement, allegro vivace, is in the rhythm of a galop, a swift and lively round dance in 2/4 time, popular in 19th century ballrooms. Again the main theme features sparkling piano runs, and a brief violin solo leads to a second theme again announced by the piano and marked by dotted rhythms. After a short development and a restatement of the themes, Mendelssohn gives us the most daring music of the sextet – a return to the minor mode music of the Menuetto with even more elaborate development. The galop then returns to wind things up in an exciting fashion.