Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCIKdjVooQ0 (if you only have time for one choose this !)
Factoids:
- Mendelssohn was a bit of a mini-Mozart in that he was a child prodigy.
- Wrote his first symphony at 15.
- Completed his string octet and incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
- If you have ever been to a wedding, you would recognize the famous Wedding March from Midsummer.
- This piece, Hear My Prayer is a cantata
- A cantata is an extended work (usually sacred) that includes solo sections, instrumental interludes, choruses, etc.
- Typically there will be multiple movements, but that is not the case in this piece
- The most prolific composer of cantatas is J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
- It is believed he wrote over 300, including a complete church cycle!
- Mendelssohn actively studied the work of Bach and revived his music, bringing it back into standard repertory with a performance of St. Matthew Passion nearly 80 years after the death of Bach. (without Mendelssohn we may not know of J.S. Bach today!)
- When this was completed in the 1840's the cantata had fallen out of fashion
- Further evidence of Mendelssohn's interest in the past, and his traditional compositional tactics.
- As you listen I encourage you to think about the text...especially in Part 2.
- O for the Wings of a Dove
- How does this contrast musically to the more combative "The enemy shouteth" section?
- Even if you are unfamiliar with musical terms use words you are more familiar with: louder, shorter, softer, higher, lower.
- Enjoy! :o)
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