The Mendelssohns: Their Music in History

This is a compendium of scholarship concerning the lives, works, and receptions of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel. Representing the latest work of leading specialists from the USA, France, Great Britain, and Italy, the essays are organized according to a number of issues that have become vital during the past 20 years: sources and source problems–including the disposition of missing and lost works, issues of musical identity as they pertain to little-known concert arias, and editorial issues presented by the organ preludes op. 37; studies of individual works–including Felix Mendelssohn’s first composition, the ‘Scottish’ and ‘Reformation’ symphonies, and Die erste Walpurgisnacht); problematic repertoires–Felix’s occasional works, song cycles, and opera plans; the relationships between Felix and Fanny; and issues of reception history–including Felix’s influences as composer of organ music and string quartets, and gender and race in biographical studies of Felix.