Octet
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Octet (Mendelssohn)
Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 was composed in the autumn of 1825 (completed on October 15)[1] , when the composer was aged 16. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz (born October 17, 1802); it was slightly revised in 1832 before the first public performance on 30 January 1836 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.[2] Conrad Wilson summarizes much of its reception ever since: "Its youthful verve, brilliance and perfection make it one of the miracles of nineteenth-century music."[3] It was followed in 1826 by the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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Contents
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Structure
The work comprises four movements:
- Allegro moderato ma con fuoco
- Andante
- Scherzo
- Presto
A typical performance of the work lasts around thirty minutes, with the first movement usually comprising roughly half of this.
The scherzo, later scored for orchestra as a replacement for the minuet in the composer's First Symphony at its premiere, is believed to have been inspired by a section of Goethe's Faust entitled "Walpurgis Night's Dream."[4] Fragments of this movement recur in the finale, as a precursor to the "cyclic" technique employed by later 19th-century composers. The entire work is also notable for its extended use of counterpoint, with the finale, in particular, beginning with an eight-part fugato.
The work has been compared to Louis Spohr's 1823 Double Quartet No.1, Op. 65 in D minor.[5]
Instrumentation
The original score is for a double string quartet with 4 violins and pairs of violas and cellos. Mendelssohn instructed in the public score, "This Octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character."[2]
Orchestrations have been made using multiple players for each part; although a version edited by Arturo Toscanini exists that employs double basses, for performance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1947.
The composer also arranged the piece as a piano duet.
References
- ^ Todd, R. Larry (2003). Mendelssohn: a life in music. Oxford University Press US. p. 148. ISBN 0-19-511043-9.
- ^ a b "Octet in E-flat major for string, Op. 20". NY Philharmonic. http://nyphil.org/programNotes/Mendelssohn_Octet%20for%20Strings_1011.pdf. Retrieved 13 June 2011. - NY Philharmonic program notes PDF
- ^ Wilson, Conrad (2005). Notes on Mendelssohn: 20 Crucial Works. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0-8028-2995-3.
- ^ Program notes from a concert at the Kennedy Center
- ^ Hefling, Stephen E. (2003). Nineteenth-century chamber music. Nineteenth-century chamber music. p. 181. ISBN 0-415-96650-7.
External links
- String Octet: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Complete performance of the Octet by the Musicians from Marlboro from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum [1] in MP3 format. (32:22)
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