HDM in Concert: Mendelssohn – String Quartets I

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s String Quartets, Op. 44, were composed during a happy period in his life. In 1837, the composer—who had outgrown his status as a child prodigy and, as Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, had attained a leading position in European musical life—married Cécile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a pastor; it was a marriage of love, as was already the norm in artistic circles at the time. The pieces are dedicated to Crown Prince Oskar of Sweden, a patron of the arts. They are fine examples of the unique artistry of their creator, who drew inspiration from tradition to forge something new. At the beginning of the theme in the first movement of the E-minor Quartet, for example, Mendelssohn quotes the opening of the finale of Mozart’s great G-minor Symphony and later pays homage to Beethoven as well. Yet his unmistakable, ethereal elegance often prevails in the three pieces. Playful details, combined with a constant sense of tension, characterize these works, which are, in essence, full of joie de vivre.