# Mendelssohn - Op. 11 - Symphony No. 1



## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

How do you rate this piece?

Mendelssohn composed his first symphony (well, in reality there are 14 string symphonies before this one) when he was only 15 years old.

Here below you find a live perfomance of the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra).
Director: Paavo Järvi.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

This time: good, not every day but once in a while. I prefer the string symphonies to be honest . ( Goodman)


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

To me it's somewhere between good and very good, and I voted for the latter. It certainly is a feat for a teen composer in my opinion.

P.S.: I agree with post #5, and decided to change my vote to "good".


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

"Not so" for me - melodies were not appealing.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Young privileged composer trying his hand at Beethovenian Sturm und Drang, resulting in a work that has a few convincing spots but in general sounds forced, insincere and insecure.
Many of the earlier string symphonies possess much more charm and compositional quality.
The piece was reasonably popular in its day but the composer tried to suppress all performances, I guess he was his own work's best critic.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I enjoy Mendelssohn greatly but Op. 11 not so much. I find other youthful compositions more appealing -- the early *Piano Concerto in A* and especially the *Double Concerto for violin and piano* -- both with more memorable melodies and content. Seems to me he was trying to overdramatize Op. 11 and the content doesn't suppport that. Still it's a good symphony and showed greatness to follow with *Lobgesang*, *Scottish*, *Italian* and *Reformation* symphonies to come in his short life ... not to mention the *violin concerto*, *Midsummer Night's Dream*, and *Elijah*. We can only wonder the heights he'd have scaled had he lived Beethoven's or Bach's duration.


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## Mannheim Rocket (Aug 1, 2020)

I think it's a great piece especially considering how young he was at the time. It's the most overlooked of his symphonies, and one that deserves more exposure than it gets.


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