An Everlasting Love

Normally one of the staff presents his or her personal favorite piece here. But for me, and probably for many others too, this choice changes frequently according to my mood. By contrast, for me it is all about a favorite composer: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Normally one of the staff presents his or her personal favorite piece here. But for me, and probably for many others too, this choice changes frequently according to my mood. By contrast, for me it is all about a favorite composer: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

We are talking here about a long love affair: from a young age I discovered Mendelssohn for myself, back then more through instrumental music such as the “Lieder ohne Worte” and the symphonies. Early on it was clear to me: if I had to choose a favorite composer, then it was him, even though I usually prefer baroque music to the classical or romantic repertoire. Whether this was due to Mendelssohn’s special position as a composer “between classicism and romanticism” or not, something about his elegant musical style goes right to the heart, speaks to me deeply and movingly. And so I could never understand the often-heard prejudice that Mendelssohn’s music was not sufficiently profound. Perhaps this view, now thankfully only rarely heard, was really only the result of the fact that, as an educated, socially-privileged cosmopolitan, Mendelssohn did not fit into the idealised image of the “unrecognized genius”.

Whilst my love for Mendelssohn began with the discovery of his instrumental music, it finally became all-consuming when I later discovered his choral music for myself. As a keen choral singer, I always get goose-pimples at the famous number “Denn er hat seinen Engeln” [ “For He shall give His angels charge over thee”], and I really enjoy the beautiful “Vorhöfen” [“courts”] passage in “Jauchzet dem Herrn” every time when we finally arrive at that point – and that still applies, even though I have sung both pieces countless times in choirs.

Although I have never sung the larger choral works with orchestra because I prefer the smaller chamber choir repertoire, I really do love this music. It is not only the two oratorios “Elijah” and “St Paul” (the latter particularly because of its magnificent overture!) which continue to impress me afresh, but above all the psalm-cantata on the 42nd Psalm “Wie der Hirsch schreit” [“As the hart longs”] , and the three unaccompanied psalms op. 78 which are perhaps my real “favorites” from Mendelssohn’s output (and here I share the opinion of the composer himself, who ultimately regarded his op. 42 as one of his most successful works).

My love for Mendelssohn can also be seen in my CD and music collection: as well as all the Bernius recordings of the sacred choral works, the box-set of the complete sacred music for chorus and orchestra (Carus 40.900) in particular was my trusty companion through my final examinations at the end of my studies.