Well-considered a prodigy, Felix Mendelssohn grew up in a household encouraging artistic excellence. Along with his siblings, he began music instruction early in his life, performed his first concert at just nine years old, and composed his first symphony at fifteen. He studied the Baroque and Classical styles of his predecessors Bach, Mozart, and Haydn though found inspiration in the more contemporary work of the time like Beethoven’s late-era compositions. Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto highlights both forms with a traditional three-movement structure rife with expansive and energetic passages. Mendelssohn also found inspiration outside the world of music and was an avid reader and fan of the works of Shakespeare composing 13 movements drawn from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He arranged nine of these movements to be performed for piano, four hands of which the Nocturne and Scherzo so beautifully capture Shakespeare’s imagery.
Mendelssohn’s Magnificence

Felix Mendelssohn
Playlist
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 61
Gloria Chien, Gilbert Kalish, piano
Felix Mendelssohn: Double Concerto in D minor for Violin, Piano, and Strings
Richard Lin, violin; Michael Stephen Brown, piano; James Thompson, Kristin Lee, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Mihai Marica, cello; Joseph Conyers, double bass