# Mendelssohn - Unfinished 6th symphony C-Major (1845)



## gprengel (Dec 21, 2015)

In February 1845 Mendelssohn started to write a 6th symphony in C-Major with the first 2 minutes gorgeously completed in score and further sketches for movement 1 and 2. When I discovered this after reading the magnificent biography of Mendelssohn by L.Todd in 2018 I was astonished that I never had heard of this before. Based on these and 2 orchestrated string quartet movements I wrote a complete symphony which you might listen to (besides the first 2 minutes all sketches by Mendelssohn are marked in yellow in my score):





 (see there for more informations)

Gerd


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

gprengel said:


> In February 1845 Mendelssohn started to write a 6th symphony in C-Major with the first 2 minutes gorgeously completed in score and further sketches for movement 1 and 2. When I discovered this after reading the magnificent biography of Mendelssohn by L.Todd in 2018 I was astonished that I never had heard of this before. Based on these and 2 orchestrated string quartet movements I wrote a complete symphony which you might listen to (besides the first 2 minutes all sketches by Mendelssohn are marked in yellow in my score):
> 
> 
> 
> ...


For some reason your link starts 12 minutes in. Here is from the start;


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## gprengel (Dec 21, 2015)

SixFootScowl said:


> For some reason your link starts 12 minutes in. Here is from the start;


I don't know why this is so - thank you for the hint - but is this really all you can say to this work?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

gprengel said:


> I don't know why this is so - thank you for the hint - but is this really all you can say to this work?


I am afraid that being a musical dunce, I can't really critique it. I will say that having listened to it, I like it. But it does fall in the same category as Mahler's 10th and Beethoven's 10th. As much as the finishing of these works is a pleasant thing to listen to, we can't help wondering what it would be like had the respective master completed it.

Also, the main thing I was hoping for was to see others here commenting. We have some really knowledgeable and capable music analysts here, and their comments would be quite valuable on something like this. We have a lot of commentary, perhaps books, on Mahler's 10th and Beethoven's 10th, but has anyone else ever completed Mendelssohn's 6th? So, this should be attracting TalkClassical symphony fans like a magnet. I am puzzled as to why it is not.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

gprengel said:


> I don't know why this is so - thank you for the hint - but is this really all you can say to this work?


FYI, if you look at the link "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0dFe2nBn_s&t=728s ", notice the "&t=728s" part, that means to start 728 seconds into the video so you must have clicked on the "Copy video URL at current time" option.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

SixFootScowl said:


> I am afraid that being a musical dunce, I can't really critique it. I will say that having listened to it, I like it. But it does fall in the same category as Mahler's 10th and Beethoven's 10th. As much as the finishing of these works is a pleasant thing to listen to, we can't help wondering what it would be like had the respective master completed it.
> 
> Also, the main thing I was hoping for was to see others here commenting. We have some really knowledgeable and capable music analysts here, and their comments would be quite valuable on something like this. We have a lot of commentary, perhaps books, on Mahler's 10th and Beethoven's 10th, but has anyone else ever completed Mendelssohn's 6th? So, this should be attracting TalkClassical symphony fans like a magnet. I am puzzled as to why it is not.


The difference between the Mahler and Beethoven 10th symphonies is like night and day, probably more so. The Mahler 10th exists in complete short score with one movement fully scored, most of a second and part of a third scored along with many notations as to intent. The Beethoven 10th is completely different as there are only fragmentary sketches for a single movement so the idea of a reconstruction is rather ludicrous. While I'm impressed at the amount of work which must have gone into the Mendelssohn, I'm not sure quite what to think of doing it based on 2 minutes of score. A more interesting approach to this kind of situation is what Luciano Berio came up with in fleshing out Schubert's D Major with _"Rendering"_.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Becca said:


> The difference between the Mahler and Beethoven 10th symphonies is like night and day, probably more so. The Mahler 10th exists in complete short score with one movement fully scored, most of a second and part of a third scored along with many notations as to intent. The Beethoven 10th is completely different as there are only fragmentary sketches for a single movement so the idea of a reconstruction is rather ludicrous. While I'm impressed at the amount of work which must have gone into the Mendelssohn, I'm not sure quite what to think of doing it based on 2 minutes of score. A more interesting approach to this kind of situation is what Luciano Berio came up with in fleshing out Schubert's D Major with _"Rendering"_.


As I said, "being a musical dunce." But I should have known the Mahler 10th was pretty much Mahler. That had been told to me before. I need to tuck your post away in my folders of Mahler and Beethoven for the next time I wonder about these 10ths.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

What is the order of composition for the Mendelssohn Symphonies? I know that it is different than the published order. As for the OP, having so little of a torso to start with, how did you arrive at the decisions that you made? I listened to this link briefly this AM and will have to listen more when I am home from work


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

_"The order of composition is: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3. The placement of No. 3 in this sequence is problematic because he worked on it for over a decade, starting the sketches soon after he began work on No. 5 but completing it after both Nos. 5 and 4."_


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Triplets said:


> What is the order of composition for the Mendelssohn Symphonies? I know that it is different than the published order. As for the OP, having so little of a torso to start with, how did you arrive at the decisions that you made? I listened to this link briefly this AM and will have to listen more when I am home from work


What Becca said, but it's even more complicated. In fact the earliest Mendelssohn symphony for full orchestra is his arrangement of the 8th string symphony, which is quite a substantial and attractive work, more so (in my opinion) than the official 1st, where he tried to be dramatic and pathetic and Beethovenian and failed miserably. Think rich privileged kid going full emo, that kind of idea. Later in his life, the popularity of the 1st was a major source of embarrassment for the self-critical composer and he tried to suppress performances of it as much as he could.
So Mendelssohn really wrote 6 symphonies for full orchestra. Or maybe 5 if you don't count the pre-1st. Or 4 if you agree that "Lobgesang" isn't a symphony, never was called a symphony by the composer ("symphonic cantata" he called it) and just got into the list because his publisher needed something to fill the number 2 spot - which Mendelssohn probably reserved for a revision of the then not yet published 4th.


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## gprengel (Dec 21, 2015)

Becca said:


> ... While I'm impressed at the amount of work which must have gone into the Mendelssohn, I'm not sure quite what to think of doing it based on 2 minutes of score. ...[/I].


No, there is the 2 minute score, but furthermore there are the sketches for the second theme, the ending of the exposition, the beginning of the development and a further treatment of the main theme in the development! And then you have about 2:30 minutes sketch of the beginning of the Andante (melody sketch and rough accompaniment) - This is quite much to get an idea of what Mendelssohn was having in his mind - and I think it is very beautiful! Do you not think so?


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