# Mendelssohn Symphony No 2 "Lobgesang"



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Just a note to say I've been in choral rehearsal since beg. of Oct to perform the above work this coming weekend with our orchestra. I would have loved to have written a rehearsal diary like I have for previous performances but life events have severely constricted my time. I'm hoping I make it through this coming week and can actually perform!

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, timpani, chorus, organ and strings.

SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN B-FLAT, OP. 52
By R. Larry Todd, Duke University

Mendelssohn's _Lobgesang_ Symphony stands as the composer's most ambitious symphonic achievement, one that figured during his lifetime as one of his most popular compositions. But curiously enough, as we now approach the 1997 sesquicentenary of Mendelssohn's death, the Symphony remains among the least well-known of his orchestral works. Its tangled reception history, which to a large extent mirrors the remarkable rise and fall of Mendelssohn's critical fortunes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, invites a rehearing of the work, and a new look at the complex web of musical and historical issues Mendelssohn addressed in creating what he described as a "symphony-cantata after words of the Holy Bible."

The impetus for the work was a commission for a Leipzig festival that celebrated in June 1840 the quadricentenary of the invention of moveable type (among the other performances was the premiere of Albert Lortzing's comic opera _Hans Sachs_). A year or two before, Mendelssohn had begun work on a purely instrumental symphony in B-flat major, and he now revisited his symphonic sketches, incorporating bits of earlier material into what would emerge as a seamless three-movement sinfonia joined to a cantata-like series of nine vocal movements requiring the use of chorus and soloists. The texts, chosen principally from the Bible, concern the praise of God and mankind's progress from darkness to enlightenment (through the dissemination of God's word, its implied agent being the Gutenberg Bible).

By introducing the element of text into the domain of the symphony, Mendelssohn was no doubt responding to the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, who, in the finale of that work, had created in 1824 an imposing setting, with soloists and chorus, of Schiller's ode, "An die Freude." The _Lobgesang_ may be grouped profitably with other texted, nineteenth-century symphonic experiments such as Berlioz's _Harold en Italie_ (1834) and _Romeo et Juliette_ (1839) and Liszt's _Faust_ Symphony (1857), usually viewed as attempts to assimilate and reinterpret the significance of Beethoven's monumental masterpiece.

Unfortunately, the obvious similarities between the _Lobgesang_ and the Ninth Symphony provided a ready supply of ammunition for Mendelssohn's detractors. In 1849, Richard Wagner, for whom the Ninth remained an inimitable monument, commented in a thinly veiled allusion: "But why shouldn't this or that composer also be able to write a symphony with choruses? Why shouldn't "the Lord God" be praised at the end, at the top of one's voice, after He has assisted in bringing to life as cleverly as possible the three previous instrumental movements?" (_Artwork of the Future_). And in the twentieth century, the distinguished English musicologist Gerald Abraham dismissed Mendelssohn's symphony as the most dismal attempt to follow the lead of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ever conceived by human mediocrity" (_A Hundred Years of Music_).

But Mendelssohn's _Lobgesang_ in fact offers considerably more than a shallow imitation of the Ninth Symphony. In celebrating Gutenberg's invention, it also celebrates the German Reformation, the aims of which were considerably advanced by the advent of printing and the spread of literacy. By extension, too, it celebrates German church music, and especially the sacred music of J. S. Bach and the oratorios of Handel. For Mendelssohn, Schumann, and their contemporaries, Bach in particular represented the _fons et origo_ of a distinguished German tradition (hence Mendelssohn's emphasis on the cantata, and the prominent use of chorales and fugal writing, all quintessential elements of Bach's art). And finally, in the _Lobgesang_ Mendelssohn sought to break down the divisions between music for the concert hall and the church (appropriately enough, his second symphony was premiered in the Thomaskirche of Leipzig, where Bach had served as Kantor in the eighteenth century).

In titling the work a _Symphonie-Cantate_, Mendelssohn was, in effect, endeavoring to create his own, new type of generic hybrid, one that encompassed two traditionally distinct genres and secular and sacred styles of writing, and juxtaposed the contemporary with allusions to earlier historical periods. Linking the symphony and cantata together is a prominent trombone invocation. Heard at the very outset, in a kind of call-and-response between the trombones and full orchestra, the figure recurs in the development of the first movement, and in the trio of the second, where it appears in counterpoint to a freely composed wind chorale, a harbinger that the textless symphony will become a texted cantata. Though the trombone figure is absent from the Andante religioso, the third and final instrumental movement, it returns with the revelation of God's word in the opening chorale movement of the cantata ("All that has breath, praise the Lord"), and it is brought back in the closing bars of the composition, reaffirming the unity of the whole.

The through-composed cantata (Nos. 2-10) presents a highly structured complex that accompanies the textual progression from darkness to light as God's word is promulgated. To mark the midpoint of the cantata (No. 6), and its turning from ignorance to enlightenment, Mendelssohn chose an especially dissonant vein. In a dramatic recitative the question, "Watchman, is the night past?" is posed three times. The answer, given by a soprano solo, introduces the lifting of the darkness in the radiant chorus that follows ("The night is past"). In No. 8, as an emblem of the German Reformation, Mendelssohn presents a setting of the familiar chorale "Nun danket alle Gott," first with the chorus a cappella and then with the addition of the orchestra. Nos. 9 and 10, a duet (for soprano and tenor) and culminating fugal chorus, return us to the key of the opening, and the essential idea of hymnic praise. With the final appearance of the trombone figure, we come full circle to the material of the beginning, to the joining of instrumental and vocal celebrations, and of the rich traditions of the German symphony and cantata.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

"Unfortunately, the obvious similarities between the _Lobgesang_ and the Ninth Symphony provided a ready supply of ammunition for Mendelssohn's detractors. In 1849, Richard Wagner, for whom the Ninth remained an inimitable monument, commented in a thinly veiled allusion: "But why shouldn't this or that composer also be able to write a symphony with choruses? Why shouldn't "the Lord God" be praised at the end, at the top of one's voice, after He has assisted in bringing to life as cleverly as possible the three previous instrumental movements?" (_Artwork of the Future_). And in the twentieth century, the distinguished English musicologist Gerald Abraham dismissed Mendelssohn's symphony as the most dismal attempt to follow the lead of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ever conceived by human mediocrity" (_A Hundred Years of Music_)."

Influential writers' opinions are not necessarily of value.*

*Extracted from my book *Surviving Nurture* - Stuff We are Supposed to have Learned.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Our first performance is tonight, followed by another tomorrow night. This week, we've had two rehearsals; one with the orchestra and one with the orchestra and soloists. The chorus will be standing throughout the vocal movements. All those years in marching band standing at attention are now paying off!

I do like this symphony's vocal movements very much. My favorite is movement 5 _Ich harrete des Herrn_ which has the lovely soprano duet with the horn solo countermelody and the mens' chorus.





Our rehearsal last night went very well and I am looking forward to performing tonight! 
Here's our local city arts newspaper's article on the concert, complete with misspelling:

*Mendelssohn's deep cuts*

FAR EXCURSIONS WITH DPO AT SCHUSTER CENTER
By Pat Suarez

Consider what Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman has brought to his orchestra and its leaders and patrons: nearly two decades of dazzling programming, community service, education, humor and even costumes on Halloween. Perhaps his keenest asset, one vital to filling the seats in the Mead Theater, is Gittleman's ability to select just the right combination of works that the DPO will perform and - more specifically - campaigning to the orchestra's programming committee for lengthy, post-intermission pieces unfamiliar to committee members and, more importantly, unknown to most of the DPO's audience. Over the years, in Memorial Hall and the Schuster Center, Gittleman's bets have paid off: Britten's "War Requiem," Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 and Adams' "Harmonielehre" were grand successes that helped continue the DPO's reputation. Where Gittleman could have played it safe with a yet another Brahms' First or Beethoven's Sixth, he instead paid thousands of patrons the immeasurable favor of presenting unforgettable music new to them.

For the Far Excursions concerts on Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2, the maestro will revisit uncharted musical waters for one of the nineteenth century's unjustly overlooked masterpieces, the Symphony No. 2 in B-flat, subtitled "Lobesang" ("Hymn of Praise"), composed by Felix Mendlessohn in 1840. It would be a fair assumption that a majority of those in attendance have not ever heard Mendelssohn's choral wonder. But after this 70-minute work is done, the audience will wonder where this symphony has been all of their lives.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was just 13 years old and fresh in Mendelssohn's mind when he decided to write a choral work to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's printing press. Since Gutenberg printed the Bible, what better source for soloists and choruses than passages from that book?

But Mendelssohn had a dilemma: Beethoven's Ninth was clearly a symphony, but the 32-year-old composer wanted more than just a chorus and soloists in a last movement: He wanted a choral work, but not a cantata, and spent time tinkering with different forms, including an oratorio and a Beethoven's Ninth homage.

To resolve his quandary, Mendelssohn opted for an opening sinfonia - an extended overture for orchestra - followed by a collection of shorter vocal and choral pieces. In its final form, "Lobesang" opened with a three-movement, 20-minute sinfonia, with the three movements played without inter-movement breaks, followed by nine movements featuring the human voice, running about 50 minutes.

Mendelssohn needed an attention-getter out of the gate, and he found it in the trombone section. He opened the work with a majestic theme in B-flat, which appeared throughout the symphony, for three trombones, including bass trombone. The full orchestra echoed that theme, bounced back to the trombones, then back to the orchestra until everybody settled on a very uplifting and propulsive allegro. There's a pulse and glow to this sinfonia that draws one in, acting as an extended invitation to the vocal glory to follow.

Although numbered "2," this was Mendlessohn's fourth symphony, chronologically. He had visited faith and religion before, in his famous "Reformation" symphony 10 years before, and he would return to those themes in the final nine movements of "Lobesang." For his texts, Mendelssohn used Psalms 150, 33, 145, 103, 107, 56, 40, 116, 7, 28, 31, 51 and 96, Ephesians 5:14, Isaiah 21:11-12 and 59:9, Romans 13:12, I Chronicles 16:8-10 and Psalm 150 in the finale.

Following the sinfonia, the choruses of "Lobesang" fill the theater with a driving, energetic Psalm 150 ("Let everything that has breath praise the Lord"). Audience members should listen for how Mendelssohn uses the organ to provide a room-shaking bedrock of low frequency to the musical swirl occurring above it. In fact, Mendlessohn's orchestra produces a potent sound space with fairly modest forces given the work's lofty ambition: just two each of the woodwinds, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, tympani, strings and - that secret sonic weapon - organ.

Mendelssohn employs two sopranos and a tenor with the choruses in the vocal movements and maintains an unflagging air of momentum, optimism and joy - to hear it, especially live, is to believe that tomorrow will offer the sort of hope and promise that have fled from the lives of most people. For the finale, Mendelssohn revisits Psalm 150 and the solemn opening trombone theme, here expanded for a soul-soaring conclusion.

The DPO "Lobesang" could not come at a better time. Given the current level of angst, unrest and occasional outright hostility in our world, Mendelssohn's Second Symphony offers a unique bright ray of light, an unflagging invitation to a higher spirit.

The program's first half features Brahms' legendary "Academic Festival Overture" and Michael Kevin Daugherty's "Bay of Pigs," a work for guitar and orchestra whose inspiration was 1961's unsuccessful invasion of Cuba that still reverberates with Cuban-Americans more than a half-century later.

For the performance of "Bay of Pigs," guitarist Manuel Barrueco will accompany the DPO. For the Mendelssohn symphony, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus is joined by Rebecca Davis, soprano, Sofia Selowsky, mezzo-soprano and Patrick O'Halloran, tenor.

http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/mendelssohns-deep-cuts/#sthash.G6tarWOM.dpuf


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I am regretful that, because of my horrible work schedule, I was not able to give this fantastic piece of music its due and the same attention I was able to give and write about our other performances. It ranks with my favorites.
You will be able to hear our performance webcast this Saturday Nov 23 at 10 AM EST on this website http://discoverclassical.org/ with the listening link in the upper right.
I happen to think this performance is excellent


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