1st piano concerto (Mendelssohn)

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Title page of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Piano Concerto No. 1 with a dedication to Delphine von Schauroth

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 ( MWV O 7 ) is the first of two piano concertos by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . The piano concerto for piano and orchestra in A minor, composed as a youth work, as well as two concertos for two pianos and string orchestra in D minor and for full orchestra in E major contained in Mendelssohn's estate have no official numbering; only the G minor concerto was found by Mendelssohn to be good enough for publication.

Emergence

Mendelssohn wrote the concerto in Rome in 1831 and completed large parts of it in Munich . It is dedicated to the 17-year-old pianist Delphine von Schauroth , with whom he had a love romance. Mendelssohn had probably already given his first thoughts on the composition a year earlier. Mendelssohn orchestrated the orchestral setting in Munich in a great hurry. He did not write down the piano part; this is missing in the complete score. This suggests that Mendelssohn played him from memory.

The premiere in Munich's Odeonssaal , at which King Ludwig I was also present, took place on October 17, 1831 at a benefit concert "For the best of the poor care society", at which Mendelssohn conducted his 1st symphony in addition to the piano concert . The soloist was Delphine von Schauroth. Mendelssohn wrote about the world premiere of the piano concerto, which he conducted: “Yesterday was my concert, and it turned out more brilliant and amusing than I had expected [...] There were about 1,100 people in it, so the poor can be satisfied «.
Mendelssohn played the piano concerto as a soloist for the first time in London with the Philharmonic Society on May 14th and 28th, 1829. After the concert, Mendelssohn was invited to the king's box.

He said of his concert that it was “a thing that is quickly thrown away and that I have almost carelessly put on paper. People seem to like it best, although not much myself ”. Nevertheless, he continued to play it as a soloist on his tours, including in Berlin and Leipzig .

To the music

Sentence names

  1. Molto allegro con fuoco
  2. Andante
  3. Presto. Molto allegro vivace

analysis

Piano and orchestral parts are closely interlinked in the concert. Influenced by Carl Maria von Weber's concert piece for piano and orchestra in F minor, Op. 79 , Mendelssohn allows the movements to merge into one another in his first piano concerto in order to prevent the annoying applause. Weber's model also influenced the first movement of the concert. The piano takes on a dramatic, energetic appearance after a brief crescendo-like orchestral introduction, without the orchestral introduction that is otherwise common in concerts. Thematically, the first movement is followed by a fantasy and a lyrical secondary theme. Stretto melodies can be found towards the end of the first movement . The transition to the E major Andante in the style of a nocturnal takes place in the trumpets and horns ; Violas and cellos take up the theme of the middle movement. It is again the trumpets and horns that introduce the exuberant Presto finale, whose piano style is reminiscent of Johann Nepomuk Hummel . The energetic roaring music of the finale contains short echoes of the first movement of the concert. The furious ending is packed with virtuoso, two-handed Martellato - octave passages, quickly ascending two-handed octave scales and brilliantly broken chords in the right hand.

Reception, performances, recordings

Mendelssohn's first piano concerto enjoyed great popularity in the 19th century and was a “hit that couldn't be missing on any program”. Mendelssohn wanted to counter the high virtuosity of his time ( Ignaz Moscheles ) with a concerto that was technically simple and of high musical value. It is in the hand of the soloist and still creates the intended concert effect. Franz Liszt played Mendelssohn's piano concerto in Paris in December 1831 without any flaws from sight, i.e. without having practiced it beforehand or even knowing it, which enormously increased Mendelssohn's previously little admiration for Liszt. Its luster faded in the 20th century. It took a back seat to later, more demanding compositions. Today (as of May 2020) many pianists are playing this concert again in public, and there are a number of CD recordings by great pianists, including Cyprien Katsaris , Lang Lang , Murray Perahia , Andras Schiff , Ragna Schirmer , Howard Shelley , Martin Stadtfeld , Jean- Yves Thibaudet , Matthias Kirschnereit , Yuja Wang and André Watts as well as older recordings with Rudolf Serkin (1961) and John Ogdon (1977).

literature

  • Christoph Hahn, Siegmar Hohl (ed.): Bertelsmann concert guide , Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1993, ISBN 3-570-10519-9 .
  • Harenberg concert guide , Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-611-00535-5 .

Web links

Recordings on YouTube

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c R. Larry Todd: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. His life his music . Carus / Reclam 2008, pp. 284f.
  2. ↑ a b KölnKlavier: Manuscript collection of composers
  3. ^ R. Larry Todd: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. His life his music . Carus / Reclam 2008, p. 289.
  4. ↑ Otto Schumann. Handbook of orchestral music . 4th ed., Heinrichhofen's Verlag.
  5. ↑ Mendelssohn 1st piano concerto performances (YouTube)