R. Larry Todd

Of Sea Gulls and Counterpoint: The Early Versions of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture

0148-2076/7910300-0197

Foreword: In Honor of Peter Ward Jones

0.25 ? 1979 by The Regents of the University of California. January 1832, Mendelssohn reaffirmed to his sister Fanny his intention to recast once more his third important overture, Die Hebriden. Originally inspired by a visit to the Hebrides in August 1829, the overture was not completed until the end of the following year. It was immediately followed by a second version, and no sooner had that been finished than the composer embarked upon still further revisions which occupied him intermittently until the publication of the work in score in 1835. Two of Mendelssohns preceding overtures, Die Sommernachtstraum, op. 21 (1826) and Meerestille und gluckliche Fahrt, op. 27 (1828, revised 1834), and an intervening one, Die sch6ne Melusine, op. 32 (1833, revised 1835), suffered somewhat similar fates; there are manuscripts for all four works that demonstrate in considerable detail how thoroughly Mendelssohn reworked his

“With True Esteem and Friendship”: The Correspondence of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Louis Spohr

In 2009, the musical world celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, whose music has experienced a strong revival over the past thirty years. An ever-increasing number...

Missa sancta Nr. 1 Es-Dur (WeV A.2) mit Offertorium "Gloria et honore" (WeV A.3); Missa sancta Nr. 2 G-Dur (WeV A.5) mit Offertorium "In die solemnitatis" (WeV A.4) (review)

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Louis Spohr, two of the most influential musical figures of Restoration musical culture in the German lands, exchanged detailed letters about some of the most important issues of their day. Most of this correspondence has remained unpublished. Thirty-nine letters exchanged by these two composers are presented in English translation and the original German. The letters contain pithy discussions of individual works of both composers—Mendelssohns St. Paul and Elijah, the symphony-cantata Lobgesang, his “Scottish” and “Italian” Symphonies, and the Melusine Overture; as well as Spohrs oratorio Des Heilands letzte Stunden, his “Historical” Symphony, and the Tochter der Luft Overture, among others. The letters also collectively offer insight into general aspects of mid-nineteenth-century musical life, such as recommending and hiring singers and instrumentalists, arranging for the performance of new music and concert programming generally, the politics of libretto creation for nineteenth-century oratorios and operas, and the state of current musical affairs, especially where the revival of earlier music and the issues facing the historicist movement are concerned.

Mendelssohn: A Life in Music

from autographs to printed scores, followed by the general editorial policies of the edition overall, with an elaboration on special problems—clefs, instrumental transpositions, accidentals, notational graphics, ornaments, tempo and dynamic markings, and so forth. Zedda provides an interesting history of Rossini in Rome 1812–17, outlines the genesis of Ferretti’s libretto, and delineates the circumstances of and critical reaction to the premiere of the opera. Of special interest is Zedda’s performance history of La Cenerentola up until 1830, including reprises in Rome, Naples, Paris, and Vienna, and the textual variants that accompanied them. His overview of the sources in the first volume is a macrocosm of what is treated in fine detail in the critical commentary. Here the detail is luxurious—no doubt the standard for the Rossini edition overall—and includes, for example, tables comparing the way numbers are ordered in the various sources. The discussion of each number does, in fact, begin with a general comparative discussion of how it appears in various sources, the differences in instrumentation, character designation and so forth, followed by a detailed intabulation and discussion of the variants, measure by measure and beat by beat where applicable. All the volumes are printed on heavyweight paper, with a contrast between ink and background that is quite sympathetic to the eyes. My only negative (and minor) comment concerns the first volume. There are two places where the eye becomes confused in moving from one column to the next, since the overall consistency of the page layout directs the eye to the top of the right-hand column from the bottom left. The discussion about Agolini’s contribution (p. xxviii) and the section about the 1822 Paris production (p. xxxviii) thwarts this system by presenting the text variants side by side rather than one over the other. Zedda’s edition makes plain that La Cenerentola is very much a singer’s opera, the province of virtuosos, with potential revivals really contingent not only on a brilliant coloratura mezzo, but also a tenor with a healthy high C, and a baritone and two basses who have tremendous vocal agility. This is a work in which the division of labor is equal, that is to say, no singer can rest easily but must prove his or her mettle at nearly every turn—the social class of the character provides absolutely no indication of who will have the vocal calisthenics. Undoubtedly, this has been a factor in the opera’s performance history, its fortune fading or growing with the appearance of such sopranos as Teresa Berganza, Marilyn Horne, or Cecilia Bartoli, for whom La Cenerentola became a signature role.