MENDELSSOHN OCTET

This Theme and Variations – composed in 1847 – was published posthumously as the first of Mendelssohn’s Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 81. Like its companion Scherzo, the undated manuscript is believed to have been written in the last few weeks of Mendelssohn’s life. Marked Andante sostenuto, the poised, elegant theme is presented by the violin, before being taken over by the viola, against a gentle, syncopated accompaniment. The next variation, in triplets, is slightly faster and gives way to a variation where the first violin plays a florid semiquaver descant over sustained chords. The fast-moving phrases are then transferred to the cello before the tempo changes to a vigorous Presto (in 6/8 time), the key now shifting from major to minor. A brief solo violin cadenza leads to coda back in the home key of E major, based on a varied recollection of the opening material and a serene close.  

Nigel Simeone © 2024 

In Robert Schumann’s retrospective of concerts in Leipzig during 1837–8, he wrote that concerts of string quartets in the small hall of the Gewandhaus “gave us many artistic treasures this winter.” These innovative chamber music concerts were established by Ferdinand David, a close friend of Mendelssohn’s and leader of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Schumann singled out Mendelssohn and his two newest string quartets (Op.44 Nos.2 and 3) as works that “wandered through a finely human sphere … in such a sphere we must award the palm to him among all his contemporaries, and only Franz Schubert, had he lived, would have been worthy to award Mendelssohn that palm without disputing it.” The E flat major Quartet Op.44 No.3 was completed in February 1848. The first movement opens with a terse five-note motif and a dotted rhythm. Both these ideas – and the way Mendelssohn uses them to propel the musical argument – show the influence of Beethoven, and they are contrasted with a more lyrical theme. The energy of this movement, and the elegance of its construction, continue into the second movement: a typical Mendelssohn Scherzo, full of dramatic contrasts between loud and soft. After E flat major in the first movement, and the darker C minor in the Scherzo, the rapt, lyrical Adagio is in A flat major. The finale, back in the home key of E flat, is dazzling, full of rapid semiquavers – a virtuoso display written for some of the most gifted quartet players of the time.  

Nigel Simeone © 2012 

One of the marvels of nineteenth-century chamber music, Mendelssohn’s Octet was originally finished in October 1825, when the composer was 16 years old. He later revised it before publication. The miracle of this work is not the youthfulness of its creator but the astonishing individuality of its music – regardless of how old its composer was at the time. The arching opening theme of the first movement, underpinned by syncopated chords, reveals the originality of Mendelssohn’s creative voice as never before. The way in which he generates a constant stream of musical ideas is all his own, but this was a composer who knew how to draw on the refinement of Mozart, the power of Beethoven and the contrapuntal intricacy of Bach for his own expressive purposes. The slow movement begins gently but becomes increasingly uneasy, while the dizzying Scherzo was inspired by the ‘Walpurgisnacht’ scene from Goethe’s Faust. The Presto finale follows naturally from this, beginning with an energetic fugal subject that generates unstoppable momentum and inspired elation.  

Nigel Simeone © 2015