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Written by Erik Leveille, First Violin for
the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra |
“I
should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs
in my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace.” Felix Mendelssohn’s
‘earworm’, as described in a letter from July 1838 to his good friend,
violinist Ferdinand David, would become one of the most beloved and instantly
recognizable melodies in the violin concerto literature.
Travel now further back in time to Berlin,
1825: 15 year old violin prodigy Ferdinand David, after two years of study with
the renowned violinist and composer Louis Spohr, is on his first concert tour.
There he encounters the equally precocious pianist and composer, 16 year old
Felix Mendelssohn, who had that very year completed his Octet for strings, a
masterwork of such assurance and maturity that even Mozart himself had not
achieved at that age.
Both boys hailed from Hamburg, where their families were
acquainted with each other- Ferdinand was even born in the very house where
Felix had been born the previous year. Their meeting in Berlin resulted in a
fast friendship- a year later, when the Mendelssohns had settled in Berlin,
Felix wrote to Ferdinand that “it is of the utmost importance for your future
career that you should soon come to Berlin…Would to God that I might soon have
the pleasure of seeing you settled here, for I am convinced that nothing could
be better for you than life and work in Berlin”. After first securing a job in
a Berlin theater orchestra, David took the advice to heart. Ferdinand was
thereafter often a guest in the Mendelssohn home, where the two would play
string quartets together(Felix on viola) with David's orchestra colleagues.
When
Mendelssohn was appointed director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig(still
going strong to this day!), he invited David to be his concertmaster; they
worked hand in hand to produce one of the finest ensembles of the day. He
similarly appointed his friend as violin professor when he founded the Leipzig
Conservatory in 1843(David would become one of the most important teachers of
the 19th century- his greatest student, Joseph Joachim, would go on
to collaborate with Johannes Brahms in producing his violin concerto). Both men
shared a seriousness of mind and reverence for music of the past (Mendelssohn
gave the first 19th century performance of Bach’s St. Matthew
Passion, and David produced the first performing edition of Bach’s Sonatas and
Partitas for solo violin, and was the first to publicly perform Bach’s
Chaconne) that contrasted with the dazzling pyrotechnics of flamboyant
virtuosos in the mold of Paganini, which Mendelssohn dismissed as “juggler’s
tricks”. David’s love of music of the Baroque is still with us today- many of
the sonatas that he selected for his “High School of Violin Playing” comprise
much of the later volumes of the Suzuki Violin School, in versions scarcely
altered from David’s originals and performed by violin students worldwide.
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We are honored to perform Mendelssohn with
the legendary Itzhak Perlman on
September 28, 2016 at the Fox Cities P.A.C. |
Other
commitments prevented Mendelssohn from finally working out his E minor earworm
until 1844. Felix relied on his colleague not only for technical advice on the
solo part(David was in large part responsible for the great cadenza at the
heart of the first movement which was among the first to be written out instead
of improvised by the soloist) but even details of the orchestration. In their correspondence,
Mendelssohn is eager to please his friend and even self-deprecating; in a
letter fired off before the manuscript went to the publishers he requests some
last minute alterations and exclaims “Thank God the fellow is through with his
concerto! you will say. Excuse my bothering you, but what can I do?”
The long gestation
and close collaboration paid off; the premiere in March 1845 was a tremendous
success, though sadly Mendelssohn was ill and unable to conduct. When further
ill health tragically ended Mendelssohn’s life two years later at the age of
38, Ferdinand David was among the small circle of family and friends who
attended his bedside. David continued to champion his friend’s concerto and
taught it to his pupils. Through his advocacy Mendelssohn's masterpiece quickly
took its place of honor as one of the greatest works for the violin.
We in the
present day still respond to the concerto’s blend of passionate lyricism,
intimacy, and puckish high spirits. The musicians of the Fox Valley Symphony
look forward to accompanying the great Itzhak Perlman in this masterpiece born
out of friendship!
