Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Prelude and Fugue in e minor Op. 35 no 1. For my second post, I chose a piece by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. My choice was not accidental: thanks to him conducting Bach’s Matthäus-Passion in 1829, the great composer’s music became again part of the concert repertoire.
Something that is true to both this prelude and this fugue is that the composer borrowed certain aspects of Bach’s music, which were appealing to the Romantic Era way of thinking. However, the musical architecture and the polyphonic techniques which Mendelssohn used, are almost identical to Bach’s compositional ideas. The other significant difference is that while Bach wrote the two books of WTC for his era’s keyboard instruments, Mendelssohn wrote this cycle for the piano, so he uses a wide palette of sounds which can be brought out from the instrument. This will be relevant in the case of the following posts too.
The prelude, with the tempo indication Allegro con fuoco, is a romantic, tempestuous echo of the baroque preludes. Turbulent arpeggios surround the main, chorale-like melody, reminding us of Bach’s oratorical works.
The fugue (Andante espressivo) introduces the first subject in a meditative, mysterious tone, until all the four voices join. After the second subject enters, the fugue transforms into a storm of intense emotions, reaching its peak in a solemn chorale. The storm calms down, and the fugue arrives into the warm E major tonality in its coda.
I chose Murray Perahia’s recording, who is considered on of the greatest pianists alive, and, in my opinion, is the best interpreter of Mendelssohn’s music.
Noémi Baki-Szmaler, guest editor, @une-barque-sur-l-ocean
