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Mendelssohn: Mendelssohn String Quartet
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When Felix Mendelssohn was 16, he composed his Octet for Strings in E-Flat Major, Op. 20, which was impressive, not only because of its composer's age, but ... because it was the one of the first works of its kind. Mendelssohn's piece featured an ingenious interplay between two distinct string quartets, resulting in a charming, highly imaginative new genre.
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The Mendelssohn String Quartet has a strong commitment to contemporary music and has given world premieres of works commissioned by and for them. During the past several seasons, the Quartet performed the world premieres of string quartets by Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas, David Horne, and Scott Wheeler. Additional composers who have written for the Quartet include Shulamit Ran, Ned Rorem, Bruce Adolphe, Mario Davidovsky, and Tina Davidson. The group has ... performed the complete quartets of Arnold Schoenberg in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
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After an apprenticeship of string symphony writing in a classical mould, Mendelssohn found inspiration in art, nature and history for his orchestral music. The energy, clarity and tunefulness of the Italian have made it his most popular symphony, although the elegiac Scottish represents a newer, more purposeful achievement. In his best overtures, essentially one-movement symphonic poems, the sea appears as a recurring image, from Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and The Hebrides to The Lovely Melusine. Less dependent on programmatic elements and at the same time formally innovatory, the concertos, notably that for violin, and the chamber music, especially some of the string quartets, the Octet and the two late piano trios, beautifully reconcile classical principles with personal feeling; these are among his most striking compositions. Of the solo instrumental works, the partly lyric, partly virtuoso Lieder ohne Worte for piano (from1829) are elegantly written and often touching.
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Mendelssohn's mature output contains many chamber works, many of which display an emotional intensity that some people think his larger works lack. In particular his string quartet op. 80 in F minor (1847), his last major work, written following the death of his sister Fanny, is both powerful and eloquent. Other works include two string quintets, sonatas for the clarinet, cello, viola and violin, and two piano trios. For the first of these trios, in D minor (1839), Mendelssohn unusually took the advice of a fellow-composer, (Ferdinand Hiller) and rewrote the piano part in a more romantic, 'Schumannesque' style, considerably heightening its effect.
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Mendelssohn's health began to fail in 1844. Three years later he was literally devastated by the death of his beloved sister, Fanny, on May 14. From then on his health deteriorated markedly, and although he ventured a short summer trip to Switzerland to recuperate, finishing the String Quartet in F Minor, he returned exhausted to Leipzig, where he died on Nov. 4, 1847, at the age of 38.
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In the 2004-05 season the Mendelssohn String Quartet will perform at Dartmouth College with actress Rosemary Harris in a concert of Beethoven, Shakespeare, and Huxley. The ensemble will offer two Beethoven quartets and Miss Harris will read from Romeo and Juliet and Point Counter Point by Huxley.
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Mendelssohn String Quartet