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Some of Mendelssohn's most well known works were written
when he was still a teenager. His String Octet when
he was sixteen, the Overture To A Midsummer Night's
Dream when he was seventeen. His style seems
to have developed quite early, and stayed relatively unchanged during his short
life.
His Piano Concerto No. 1 was written in 1830 when he was 21
years old. He played the premiere in Munich in a concert that also included his Symphony
No. 1, Overture To A Midsummer Night's Dream and
some improvisations at the keyboard. Mendelssohn said he had composed the
concerto in only a few days and didn’t have a very high opinion of it:
"I wrote it in but a few days and almost carelessly;
nonetheless, it always pleased people the most, though me very little.”
Like Franz Liszt, Mendelssohn experimented with linking movements
together in this concerto, as there is no formal pause between movements. But
there is no doubt the concerto is in three distinct sections.
I. Molto allegro con fuoco -The concerto begins with
a few bars of introduction by the orchestra, and then the piano enters with a
bravura display. Many piano concertos of the time opened with a long orchestra
introduction of themes before the piano enters. There are a few notable
exceptions, such as Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 and Beethoven's 4th and
5th Piano Concertos. These examples have the piano enter with a brief
statement or comment, and then it remains silent until the end of the
orchestral introduction. Mendelssohn has the piano enter early also, but it
doesn't remain silent. It continues to play, and introduces the themes while
the orchestra comments on them later. This makes Mendelssohn's concertos
one of the first truly Romantic concertos that broke with tradition.
Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann helped make the concerto very
popular in its day. With the quick tempo and a piano part bristling with
arpeggios, scales, and octaves, the piano is the star and leader of the
ensemble as much of the thematic development is taken up by the piano. The
orchestra plays a secondary role, but adds much color and balance to the
movement. Mendelssohn manages to create a movement full of fire and passion
that retains elegance as well. The movement segues without a break to the next
movement.
II. Andante - The fiery first movement segues into a
gentle andante, one of Mendelssohn's songs without words, in E major. This
movement is slow, with a middle section that changes key for contrast. The initial
theme is slightly varied when it returns to end the movement.
III. Presto - Molto allegro e vivace - A fanfare for brass
leads into the finale, a quicksilver rondo where the piano ripples its way
through episodes and the refrain of the theme. The soloist's fingers scamper
over the keys in music that Mendelssohn intends
to be played very fast by the tempo designations. Towards the end of the movement, snippets of themes
from the first movement appear, and the movement grows to a brilliant conclusion.
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