A notice to the followers of this blog — during the next two months I will be doing the bulk of my year-long work as a consultant. I will be leading several workshops on teaching history, teaching writing, and teaching analytical thinking. I will be making such a variety of presentations that each day will be a struggle to make sure I have remembered to bring the right materials. If not for “Clear for Mac,” an app that never fails to keep me headed in the right direction, I'm not sure I would be able keep things straight.
In any case, I will not be posting on this blog again until early August. Stay with me. The blog has been too much fun for me to abandon it. I wish I could say that I’ll return “tanned, rested, and ready,” but I’ll be too busy over the next two months for that to happen. Instead, I’ll be ready in August to begin writing again because I will finally have reached the end of the roller coaster that I call “summer.”
If you have just discovered this blog, I invite you to go back and read a sampling of what I have been posting. Check out the "Blog Archive," "Popular Posts," and "Labels" located on the sidebar for something that looks interesting. I hope you enjoy what you see.
Peace,
Jim
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Rite of Spring: A Performance that Shook the World
History books are traditionally divided into chapters that attempt to compartmentalize the ebb and flow of historical change. In most cases, however, historical change is not orderly and well-defined. History is not always marked by clear beginnings and endings. Even so, now and then a single event turns everything upside down and changes a society forever — the attack on the Bastille in 1789, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, the stock market crash in 1929. Those events clearly began new “chapters” in human history.
Music history — like political and economic history — has its earth-shattering moments, the moments when everything changes. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) changed European music forever, as did Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (1805) and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1865). All three of those works shook the foundations of music and made it difficult for composers to continue using the traditional "rules" of composition. Another such moment in music history came on May 29, 1913, when The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
The first performance of The Rite of Spring caused such an uproar that most accounts of the audience’s reaction refer to it as a “riot.” Even though the ballet’s unusual choreography may have had as much to do with causing a commotion as the music, we cannot avoid describing The Rite of Spring as one of the most significant and influential pieces of music ever composed.
The Rite of Spring was the third ballet that Stravinsky had composed for the Ballets Russes. Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian art critic and entrepreneur, created the Ballet Russes in 1909 when he brought Russian ballet dancers to Paris. Employing the finest dancers in the world, Diaghilev gained much fame combining music, scenery, costumes, acting, and drama into what Richard Wagner had once described as “Artwork of the Future.”
During the first season of the Ballets Russes, Diaghilev produced performances of classic ballets with music by Chopin and Rimsky-Korsakov. During the second season, however, Diaghilev scheduled performances with new music. The first ballet commissioned by Diaghilev with new music was The Firebird by Stravinsky.
At the time Stravinsky composed The Firebird, he was an unknown and untested Russian composer, a former pupil of the great Rimsky-Korsakov. The Firebird, which premiered in June 1910, became a hit, leading Diaghilev to commission another ballet from Stravinsky. That ballet, titled Petrushka, made Stravinsky an international star and Diaghilev asked Stravinsky for a third ballet — The Rite of Spring. With its premiere audience full of the well-bred and well-known, Paris was primed for a major social event. Little did the audience know they were about to make history by witnessing an event that would scandalize Paris and revolutionize the language of music.
The Rite of Spring paints a picture of a primitive and pagan Russia, a primordial version of human beings paying tribute to nature and describing different rituals related to spring. During the ballet, a young virgin is selected for sacrifice and then dances herself to death.
Parisian painters had already been influenced by primitive art and had created a new artistic style known as Fauvism. “Fauvists” (or “Brutes”) painted with wild brush strikes and jarring colors. The Rite of Spring might be described in the same terms. The combination of modernist music and dancing went far beyond what some members of the audience at the premier performance were willing to accept.
Carl Van Vechten, an American writer and photographer, attended the premier and later describe the chaos in his book Music After the War.
Byron Hollinshead has edited a pair of books titled I Wished I’d Been There in which distinguished historians answer the question, “What scene or incident in history would you most liked to have witnessed? Although I can think of several historical events I would like to have witnessed, the premier performance of The Rite of Spring would be near the top of my list.
If I had been at that performance, I would have wanted to attend as neutral observer, someone who was not taking sides. I would have wanted to watch that performance knowing what we know 100 years later, fully cognizant of how much Stravinsky’s music was changing everything that came after. I wish I'd been there to see what it looks like when the world is shaken to its core and everything begins traveling in a different direction.
---
Follow the outline while watching and listening to the graphic score for The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps).
Anyone who follows this blog has probably noticed how often I embed graphic scores. I have always enjoyed following notated scores to enhance my understanding of a musical recording. The graphic scores that are now ubiquitous on the Internet provide almost as much satisfaction. I love seeing how colors and shapes can illuminate the “story” that is being told in a piece of music. A recent study addressed the question, “Do you see colors when you listen to music?” For me the answer is, “yes!”
That said, I would like to say that the two graphic scores I have embedded below for The Rite of Spring are among the best I have seen. The scores come from Stephen Malinowski and Jay Bacal at Music Animation Machine. I find their work on The Rite of Spring riveting and thrilling. NPR called it “mind blowing.”
I highly recommend that the readers of this blog take 35 minutes to listen to the music and watch the incredible graphic score that Music Animation Machine has created. Tyros will learn that they don’t need to be able to read music to know what musicians have long known: music should be seen as well as heard.
Part One: Adoration of the Earth
0:06 | 1. Introduction
3:18 | 2. Augurs of Spring (Dance of the Adolescents): The celebration of spring begins in the hills. The pipers pipe and young men tell fortunes.
6:26 | 3. Game of the Abduction: An old woman enters. She knows the mystery of nature and begins to predict the future. Young girls with painted faces come in from the river in single file and begin the spring dance.
7:48 | 4. Spring Rounds: The young girls dance the “Spring Rounds.”
11:22 | 5. Games of the Rival Tribes: The people divide into two groups opposing each other and begin the “Games of the Rival Tribes.”
13:08 | 6. Entrance of the Wise Man: The holy procession enters with the wise elders led by the Wise Man.
13:48 | 7. The Wise Man: The Wise Man interrupts the spring games and the people tremble as the he blesses the earth.
14:09 | 8. Dance to the Earth: The people dance passionately and become one with the earth.
Part Two: The Sacrifice
0:15 | 9. Introduction
4:54 | 10. Mysterious Circles of the Adolescents: At night, the adolescent girls engage in mysterious games, walking in circles.
8:10 | 11. Glorification of the Chosen One: One of the girls — a virgin — is selected as the Chosen One after being twice caught in a perpetual circle. The adolescent girls honor her with a marital dance.
9:36 | 12. Evocation of the Ancestors: The adolescent girls invoke their ancestors in a brief dance.
10:30 | 13. Ritual of the Ancestors: The Chosen One is entrusted to the care of the old wise men.
14:06 | 14. Ritual Dance of the Chosen One: The Chosen One performs a sacrificial dance and dances herself to death in the presence of the old wise men.
---
As today is the 100th anniversary of the premiere of The Rite of Spring, the internet has been alive with articles about the first performance. Check out these links to a few of my favorites:
 |
| Théâtre des Champs-Élysées |
The first performance of The Rite of Spring caused such an uproar that most accounts of the audience’s reaction refer to it as a “riot.” Even though the ballet’s unusual choreography may have had as much to do with causing a commotion as the music, we cannot avoid describing The Rite of Spring as one of the most significant and influential pieces of music ever composed.
The Rite of Spring was the third ballet that Stravinsky had composed for the Ballets Russes. Sergei Diaghilev, a Russian art critic and entrepreneur, created the Ballet Russes in 1909 when he brought Russian ballet dancers to Paris. Employing the finest dancers in the world, Diaghilev gained much fame combining music, scenery, costumes, acting, and drama into what Richard Wagner had once described as “Artwork of the Future.”
During the first season of the Ballets Russes, Diaghilev produced performances of classic ballets with music by Chopin and Rimsky-Korsakov. During the second season, however, Diaghilev scheduled performances with new music. The first ballet commissioned by Diaghilev with new music was The Firebird by Stravinsky.
 |
| Pablo Picasso's sketch of Stravinsky |
 | |
| Sketches of the Sacrificial Dance |
Parisian painters had already been influenced by primitive art and had created a new artistic style known as Fauvism. “Fauvists” (or “Brutes”) painted with wild brush strikes and jarring colors. The Rite of Spring might be described in the same terms. The combination of modernist music and dancing went far beyond what some members of the audience at the premier performance were willing to accept.
Carl Van Vechten, an American writer and photographer, attended the premier and later describe the chaos in his book Music After the War.
“A certain part of the audience, thrilled by what it considered to be a blasphemous attempt to destroy music as an art, and swept away with wrath, began very soon after the rise of the curtain to whistle, to make catcalls, and to offer audible suggestions as to how the performance should proceed. Others of us who liked the music and felt that the principles of free speech were at stake bellowed defiance. The orchestra played on unheard, except occasionally when a slight lull occurred. The figures on the stage danced in time to music that they had to imagine they heard, and beautifully out of rhythm with the uproar in the auditorium. I was sitting in a box in which I had rented one seat. Three ladies sat in front of me, one young man occupied the place behind me. He stood up during the course of the ballet to enable himself to see more clearly. The intense excitement under which he was laboring, thanks to the potent force of the music, betrayed itself presently when he began to beat rhythmically on the top of my head with his fists. My emotion was so great that I did not feel the blows for some time. They were perfectly synchronized with the music.”In addition to Van Vecthen’s description, other well-known stories from that evening illustrate the controversial nature of the ballet.
- A woman who was enjoying the performance stood up and spat in the face of a man demonstrating his displeasure with the music.
- Another woman who was also enjoying the performance was seated in a theater box . When a boobird in the box next to her got on her nerves she reached into his box and slapped his face. Her escort then challenged the boobird to a duel.
- The Princesse de Pourtalès walked out of the theater exclaiming, “I am sixty years old, but this is the first time that anyone dared to make a fool of me!”
- The ambassador from Austria sneered and laughed out loud.
- Music critic André Capu screamed that the music was a fraud.
- Composer and music critic Alexis Roland-Manuel loudly defended the music, causing a protestor to tear the collar from his shirt.
- The police showed up in large numbers and over 40 people were taken out of the theater.
Byron Hollinshead has edited a pair of books titled I Wished I’d Been There in which distinguished historians answer the question, “What scene or incident in history would you most liked to have witnessed? Although I can think of several historical events I would like to have witnessed, the premier performance of The Rite of Spring would be near the top of my list.
If I had been at that performance, I would have wanted to attend as neutral observer, someone who was not taking sides. I would have wanted to watch that performance knowing what we know 100 years later, fully cognizant of how much Stravinsky’s music was changing everything that came after. I wish I'd been there to see what it looks like when the world is shaken to its core and everything begins traveling in a different direction.
---
Follow the outline while watching and listening to the graphic score for The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps).
Anyone who follows this blog has probably noticed how often I embed graphic scores. I have always enjoyed following notated scores to enhance my understanding of a musical recording. The graphic scores that are now ubiquitous on the Internet provide almost as much satisfaction. I love seeing how colors and shapes can illuminate the “story” that is being told in a piece of music. A recent study addressed the question, “Do you see colors when you listen to music?” For me the answer is, “yes!”
That said, I would like to say that the two graphic scores I have embedded below for The Rite of Spring are among the best I have seen. The scores come from Stephen Malinowski and Jay Bacal at Music Animation Machine. I find their work on The Rite of Spring riveting and thrilling. NPR called it “mind blowing.”
I highly recommend that the readers of this blog take 35 minutes to listen to the music and watch the incredible graphic score that Music Animation Machine has created. Tyros will learn that they don’t need to be able to read music to know what musicians have long known: music should be seen as well as heard.
Part One: Adoration of the Earth
0:06 | 1. Introduction
3:18 | 2. Augurs of Spring (Dance of the Adolescents): The celebration of spring begins in the hills. The pipers pipe and young men tell fortunes.
6:26 | 3. Game of the Abduction: An old woman enters. She knows the mystery of nature and begins to predict the future. Young girls with painted faces come in from the river in single file and begin the spring dance.
7:48 | 4. Spring Rounds: The young girls dance the “Spring Rounds.”
11:22 | 5. Games of the Rival Tribes: The people divide into two groups opposing each other and begin the “Games of the Rival Tribes.”
13:08 | 6. Entrance of the Wise Man: The holy procession enters with the wise elders led by the Wise Man.
13:48 | 7. The Wise Man: The Wise Man interrupts the spring games and the people tremble as the he blesses the earth.
14:09 | 8. Dance to the Earth: The people dance passionately and become one with the earth.
Part Two: The Sacrifice
0:15 | 9. Introduction
4:54 | 10. Mysterious Circles of the Adolescents: At night, the adolescent girls engage in mysterious games, walking in circles.
8:10 | 11. Glorification of the Chosen One: One of the girls — a virgin — is selected as the Chosen One after being twice caught in a perpetual circle. The adolescent girls honor her with a marital dance.
9:36 | 12. Evocation of the Ancestors: The adolescent girls invoke their ancestors in a brief dance.
10:30 | 13. Ritual of the Ancestors: The Chosen One is entrusted to the care of the old wise men.
14:06 | 14. Ritual Dance of the Chosen One: The Chosen One performs a sacrificial dance and dances herself to death in the presence of the old wise men.
---
As today is the 100th anniversary of the premiere of The Rite of Spring, the internet has been alive with articles about the first performance. Check out these links to a few of my favorites:
- BBC News Magazine: Did The Rite of Spring Really Spark a Riot?
- Gramophone: Responding to The Rite of Spring
- The Guardian: Rite that Cause Riots: Celebrating 100 Years of The Rite of Spring
- NPR Music: Why Jazz Musicians Love The Rite of Spring
- NPR Music: Watch a Mind-Blowing Visualization of The Rite of Spring
- NPR Music: Then the Curtain Opened: The Bracing Impact of Stravinsky's Rite
- NPR Music: Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring Counterrevolution
- NPR Music: Leonard Bernstein's Rite of Spring Thrill Ride
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Richard Wagner: No Birthday Wishes
Richard Wagner was greedy, arrogant, and ruthless. He ran away from his debts and had affairs with his friend’s wives. He was racist and anti-Semitic. He regarded himself as a god. In his own words, “I am not made like other people. I must have brilliance and beauty and light. The world owes me what I need.”
His music was also sanctioned by Adolf Hitler, who famously said, “Whoever wants to understand National Socialistic Germany must know Wagner.”
Despite Wagner’s flaws as a human being and his shameful legacy, his music dramas are filled with messages of the redemptive power of love. His work has inspired generations of concert goers to believe in the possibility of personal transformation through love and the purity of the human heart.
Few composers have had more books written about them than Richard Wagner, and few have caused so much controversy. It’s been said that when eating dinner with friends you should never discuss politics, religion, or Wagner.
So, what are we to make of such an unpleasant man and his distorted political philosophies, a man who also created some of the most beautiful and redemptive music ever composed?
Maybe the answer is found by examining the relationship between Brahms and Tchaikovsky or Adams and Jefferson as described in a blog I posted two weeks ago. Sometimes we must simply separate a person’s character from their public work. The veracity of this idea is put to the test more often when examining the life and works of Richard Wagner than most any other person in music history.
As for my personal view on Wagner?
Tomorrow, May 22, is Wagner’s 200th birthday. I have no desire to commemorate the memory of the man. I will, however, spend time on the day after his birthday listening to the Overture to Tannhauser and Isolde’s Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde. There is no doubt I will enjoy the music, even if it was composed by an abhorrent human being.
Tannhauser Overture (Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic)
Isolde's Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde (sung by Waltraud Meier under the direction of Daniel Baremboin on December 7, 2007 at the Scala Milan opening)
His music was also sanctioned by Adolf Hitler, who famously said, “Whoever wants to understand National Socialistic Germany must know Wagner.”
 |
| Richard Wagner (1813-1883) |
Few composers have had more books written about them than Richard Wagner, and few have caused so much controversy. It’s been said that when eating dinner with friends you should never discuss politics, religion, or Wagner.
So, what are we to make of such an unpleasant man and his distorted political philosophies, a man who also created some of the most beautiful and redemptive music ever composed?
Maybe the answer is found by examining the relationship between Brahms and Tchaikovsky or Adams and Jefferson as described in a blog I posted two weeks ago. Sometimes we must simply separate a person’s character from their public work. The veracity of this idea is put to the test more often when examining the life and works of Richard Wagner than most any other person in music history.
As for my personal view on Wagner?
Tomorrow, May 22, is Wagner’s 200th birthday. I have no desire to commemorate the memory of the man. I will, however, spend time on the day after his birthday listening to the Overture to Tannhauser and Isolde’s Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde. There is no doubt I will enjoy the music, even if it was composed by an abhorrent human being.
Tannhauser Overture (Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic)
Isolde's Love-Death from Tristan and Isolde (sung by Waltraud Meier under the direction of Daniel Baremboin on December 7, 2007 at the Scala Milan opening)
© 2011 James L. Smith
(originally posted on SonataForm.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn: Music as a Profession and an Ornament
Caligula and Drusilla — Vincent and Theo — Wilbur and Orville — George and Ira — Jack and Bobby — Felix and Fanny.
Some people will forever be linked to their siblings in the history books. I doubt anyone will ever read about John Kennedy without his brother Bobby playing a significant role in the story. The same is true with Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo, as well as Caligula and his sister Drusilla.
Some siblings are even linked in death. Bobby Kennedy died less than five years after his brother and is buried close to him at Arlington cemetery. Theo van Gogh died six months after Vincent and is buried next to him at Auvers-sur-Oise in France.
In most cases, we bother to learn little or nothing about a famous person’s siblings. George Washington had a brother named Lawrence, but most of us have little reason to know much about him. I doubt, however, that anyone will ever read about Wilbur Wright without also reading about Orville. The same is true of George and Ira Gershwin. It's probably not even possible to learn about one of the Marx Brothers without learning about the other four.
Some siblings, it seems, are destined for a historical connection, and any list of siblings connected by history would be incomplete without including Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.
Every classical music lover knows about Felix Mendelssohn. More than 160 years after his death his music remains a standard component of the modern repertoire. When hearing Mendelssohn's music we can’t help but want to know something about the man who composed it, and when we examine his life we inevitably learn about Fanny, the sister who shared his talents but not his opportunities in European society.
Fanny was four years older than Felix, born in 1805 as the first child of well-to-do Jewish parents in Hamburg, Germany. Much was expected of children born into the Mendelssohn family. Fanny’s grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, was a respected philosopher. Her father Abraham was a well-to-do banker, and her mother Lea was a highly educated taskmaster, a woman determined to give her children the best education possible.
The Mendelssohns were an intellectual and ambitious family, unwilling to let anything hold them back. In 1811 they moved to Berlin, a city with more opportunities than provincial Hamburg. By the early 1820s the entire family had converted to Lutheranism and changed their name to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Abraham and Lea did not want the prejudice and discrimination against Jews affecting their children.
When Fanny was born her mother proclaimed she had “Bach-fugue fingers” and begin giving her daughter piano lessons at age six. After the family moved to Berlin, Fanny took lessons with a master pianist named Ludwig Berger. It was clear to those who visited the Mendelssohn home that Fanny was a prodigy.
Felix also began taking piano lessons at age six. Like Fanny, he was a musical prodigy and studied with Ludwig Berger. At age ten he was learning to write counterpoint from Carl Zelter, as was his sister. Both Fanny and Felix began composing when they were children and were both more advanced than Mozart at a comparable age.
Everything changed for Fanny when she turned fifteen. Her parents told her she must abandon music and prepare for marriage and motherhood. Her father said, “Music will perhaps become Felix’s profession. For you it can and must be only an ornament.” The Mendelssohns were a proper family, not about to challenge social mores regarding the role of woman.
Felix gained great fame and adulation as a composer, conductor, and pianist. His works were performed by the finest orchestras in Europe. Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed when he was only seventeen, received rave reviews after its first performance. He was twenty when the Hebrides Overture played to rapturous applause.
He began conducting when he was nineteen and quickly gained a reputation as a virtuosic and innovative leader of orchestras and choirs. He was the first to use a baton and the first to create a repertoire of masterworks from the past. At age twenty he conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, a piece that had not been heard since Bach’s death seventy-nine years early. The performance resurrected an almost forgotten composer and created a mania for all things Bach. The great composer Hector Berlioz said, “There is but one God — Bach — and Mendelssohn is his prophet.”
At age twenty-six Felix became the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, one of the most prestigious conducting jobs of the time. He soon turned the Gewandhuas into the best orchestra in the world. When he was thirty-four he founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music. He was, quite simply, one of the most successful and well-known musicians of his time.
Fanny, on the other hand, had been denied a career in music by her parents and the cult of domesticity that limited women's opportunities in European society. The fact that she was as talented as her brother made no difference. Instead of setting the musical world on fire, Fanny read about her brother's success in the newspapers. Felix traveled throughout Europe while she stayed home. Felix conducted great orchestras while she played in amateur quartets. Felix became an international superstar. She remained unknown to the general public.
At age twenty Fanny married the artist Wilhelm Hensel. The day after her wedding Wilhelm handed her a piece of manuscript paper and asked her to return to music and begin composing again. With the support of her husband, Fanny returned to her life in music, but only as an amateur. After several miscarriages she gave birth to her only child, a son she named Sebastian Ludwig Felix Hensel in honor of her favorite composers. When she wasn't taking care of her son, she hosted musical salons and organized a small chorus. She also composed songs and wrote short pieces for piano. She would compose almost 500 pieces of music, and seven collections of songs were eventually published under her name.
Fanny nevertheless remained unknown to the public during her lifetime. European culture would simply not accept music composed by a woman. Felix secretly published several of her songs under his own name, songs that gained wide exposure and popular approval. On one of Felix’s many visits to England he met Queen Victoria who raved about the song “Italien.” Felix created a slight controversy when he confessed that his sister had written the song.
On May 14, 1847, Fanny was playing the piano with a chamber group when her hands went numb. The next day she died of a stroke. She was forty-two years old.
Felix, distraught over the loss of his sister, was emotionally unable to attend her funeral. Over the next few months his health deteriorated and less than six months after his sister died he was killed by a stroke. He was thirty-eight.
Today, in a graveyard outside Berlin, Fanny and Felix are buried next to each other, joined forever in death. Felix was a composer for the ages, gaining the fame that history grants to few artists. His story, however, can never be told without also telling the story of his sister Fanny, a woman of prodigious talent who was born at the wrong time in history.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Larghetto from Song Without Words, Op. 8, No.3, Elzbieta Sternlicht, pianist
Felix Mendelssohn, Fantasy in F#, "Scottish Sonata," Op.28, Murray Perahia, pianest
Some people will forever be linked to their siblings in the history books. I doubt anyone will ever read about John Kennedy without his brother Bobby playing a significant role in the story. The same is true with Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo, as well as Caligula and his sister Drusilla.
Some siblings are even linked in death. Bobby Kennedy died less than five years after his brother and is buried close to him at Arlington cemetery. Theo van Gogh died six months after Vincent and is buried next to him at Auvers-sur-Oise in France.
In most cases, we bother to learn little or nothing about a famous person’s siblings. George Washington had a brother named Lawrence, but most of us have little reason to know much about him. I doubt, however, that anyone will ever read about Wilbur Wright without also reading about Orville. The same is true of George and Ira Gershwin. It's probably not even possible to learn about one of the Marx Brothers without learning about the other four.
Some siblings, it seems, are destined for a historical connection, and any list of siblings connected by history would be incomplete without including Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.
 |
| Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) |
 |
| Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) |
The Mendelssohns were an intellectual and ambitious family, unwilling to let anything hold them back. In 1811 they moved to Berlin, a city with more opportunities than provincial Hamburg. By the early 1820s the entire family had converted to Lutheranism and changed their name to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Abraham and Lea did not want the prejudice and discrimination against Jews affecting their children.
When Fanny was born her mother proclaimed she had “Bach-fugue fingers” and begin giving her daughter piano lessons at age six. After the family moved to Berlin, Fanny took lessons with a master pianist named Ludwig Berger. It was clear to those who visited the Mendelssohn home that Fanny was a prodigy.
Felix also began taking piano lessons at age six. Like Fanny, he was a musical prodigy and studied with Ludwig Berger. At age ten he was learning to write counterpoint from Carl Zelter, as was his sister. Both Fanny and Felix began composing when they were children and were both more advanced than Mozart at a comparable age.
Everything changed for Fanny when she turned fifteen. Her parents told her she must abandon music and prepare for marriage and motherhood. Her father said, “Music will perhaps become Felix’s profession. For you it can and must be only an ornament.” The Mendelssohns were a proper family, not about to challenge social mores regarding the role of woman.
Felix gained great fame and adulation as a composer, conductor, and pianist. His works were performed by the finest orchestras in Europe. Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed when he was only seventeen, received rave reviews after its first performance. He was twenty when the Hebrides Overture played to rapturous applause.
He began conducting when he was nineteen and quickly gained a reputation as a virtuosic and innovative leader of orchestras and choirs. He was the first to use a baton and the first to create a repertoire of masterworks from the past. At age twenty he conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, a piece that had not been heard since Bach’s death seventy-nine years early. The performance resurrected an almost forgotten composer and created a mania for all things Bach. The great composer Hector Berlioz said, “There is but one God — Bach — and Mendelssohn is his prophet.”
At age twenty-six Felix became the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, one of the most prestigious conducting jobs of the time. He soon turned the Gewandhuas into the best orchestra in the world. When he was thirty-four he founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music. He was, quite simply, one of the most successful and well-known musicians of his time.
Fanny, on the other hand, had been denied a career in music by her parents and the cult of domesticity that limited women's opportunities in European society. The fact that she was as talented as her brother made no difference. Instead of setting the musical world on fire, Fanny read about her brother's success in the newspapers. Felix traveled throughout Europe while she stayed home. Felix conducted great orchestras while she played in amateur quartets. Felix became an international superstar. She remained unknown to the general public.
At age twenty Fanny married the artist Wilhelm Hensel. The day after her wedding Wilhelm handed her a piece of manuscript paper and asked her to return to music and begin composing again. With the support of her husband, Fanny returned to her life in music, but only as an amateur. After several miscarriages she gave birth to her only child, a son she named Sebastian Ludwig Felix Hensel in honor of her favorite composers. When she wasn't taking care of her son, she hosted musical salons and organized a small chorus. She also composed songs and wrote short pieces for piano. She would compose almost 500 pieces of music, and seven collections of songs were eventually published under her name.
Fanny nevertheless remained unknown to the public during her lifetime. European culture would simply not accept music composed by a woman. Felix secretly published several of her songs under his own name, songs that gained wide exposure and popular approval. On one of Felix’s many visits to England he met Queen Victoria who raved about the song “Italien.” Felix created a slight controversy when he confessed that his sister had written the song.
On May 14, 1847, Fanny was playing the piano with a chamber group when her hands went numb. The next day she died of a stroke. She was forty-two years old.
Felix, distraught over the loss of his sister, was emotionally unable to attend her funeral. Over the next few months his health deteriorated and less than six months after his sister died he was killed by a stroke. He was thirty-eight.
Today, in a graveyard outside Berlin, Fanny and Felix are buried next to each other, joined forever in death. Felix was a composer for the ages, gaining the fame that history grants to few artists. His story, however, can never be told without also telling the story of his sister Fanny, a woman of prodigious talent who was born at the wrong time in history.
 |
| Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn Burial Site |
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Larghetto from Song Without Words, Op. 8, No.3, Elzbieta Sternlicht, pianist
Felix Mendelssohn, Fantasy in F#, "Scottish Sonata," Op.28, Murray Perahia, pianest
© 2011 James L. Smith
(originally posted on SonataForm.blogspot.com)
Sunday, May 12, 2013
The Ukulele Craze
One of the reasons I created this blog was to give myself a platform for discovering new things happening in the world of music. I can now score one point in the category of “expanding my horizons." For much too long I have been unaware a ukulele craze that for many people is old news. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, after all, has been drawing crowds since 1985.
As I’ve already learned from listening to Jake Shimabukuro for the last two years, the ukulele is an instrument that has the ability to make you smile. It appears the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has been putting that simple fact to good use in their act for several years.
May these clips you smile.
As a bonus, here's Israel Kamakawiwo'ole accompanying himself on the ukulele as he sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World."
As I’ve already learned from listening to Jake Shimabukuro for the last two years, the ukulele is an instrument that has the ability to make you smile. It appears the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has been putting that simple fact to good use in their act for several years.
May these clips you smile.
As a bonus, here's Israel Kamakawiwo'ole accompanying himself on the ukulele as he sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World."
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