Romantic Resonance

If you have ever been to a wedding or seen a portion of one on television or in the movies, I am sure you have heard some of them music of Mendelson - such as the wedding March at the beginning of this episode. Today we are fortunate enough to speak vith the ghost or if you vill - the spirit of Felix Mendelson

Herr Bartley, thank you for that vedy direct introduction to vhat has to be my most vell-knovn vork.  But Herr Bartley—allov me to step into the light once more. By name, I am Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3, 1809.      You are Mr. Bartley, I am here Herr Bartholdy.  Perhaps ve are related.

Not that I know of, but Maestro Mendelson, could you tell us about your family?

Ja, Herr Bartley, my family vas vealthy, cultured, and deeply musical; my father, Abraham, vas a banker and patron of the arts, and my mother, Lea, nurtured a love of literature and learning. From an early age, music vas ever-present in our home—my mother’s piano, the violin in our hands, and evenings filled vith song and discussion.     

Transcript

Music attribution at conclusion of transcript

Wedding March

Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - episode 486

I vasn't able to do a podcast episode about Rossini for today, so I'll just have to postpone that for the future.  So today, I vould like to do a podcast episode regarding Felix Mendelson

If you have ever been to a wedding or seen a portion of one on television or in the movies, I am sure you have heard some of them music of Mendelson - such as the wedding March at the beginning of this episode. Today we are fortunate enough to speak vith the ghost or if you vill - the spirit of Felix Mendelson

Herr Bartley, thank you for that vedy direct introduction to vhat has to be my most vell-knovn vork.  But Herr Bartley—allov me to step into the light once more. By name, I am Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3, 1809.      You are Mr. Bartley, I am here Herr Bartholdy.  Perhaps ve are related.

Not that I know of, but Maestro Mendelson, could you tell us about your family?

Ja, Herr Bartley, my family vas vealthy, cultured, and deeply musical; my father, Abraham, vas a banker and patron of the arts, and my mother, Lea, nurtured a love of literature and learning. From an early age, music vas ever-present in our home—my mother’s piano, the violin in our hands, and evenings filled vith song and discussion.     

And Maestro Mendelson, could you describe your childhood

Ah, Herr Bartley, I vas a child of curiosity and discipline. By the age of six, I vas composing short piano pieces, and soon my talent became evident to family friends and teachers alike. ve vere fortunate: my parents recognized the gift and provided rigorous instruction, not only in music but in literature, languages, and philosophy, believing a vell-rounded mind vould make a better artist.

At age nine, I conducted my first performance of my ovn orchestral vork—a symphony! This early start in composition and conducting gave me a profound sense of confidence and clarity in musical ideas. I vas fortunate, too, to study vith some of the finest teachers available, and to be surrounded by a vibrant musical culture in Berlin, vhich vould nourish my creativity throughout my life.

It sounds like your early compositions vere beginning to attract attention.

Ja, ja - Herr Bartley, After my early compositions began to attract attention, my life as a young prodigy truly took shape. By the age of 12, I had vritten my first symphony in C minor, and it vas performed before an audience that marveled at the clarity and maturity of my music. I vas often compared to Mozart, and indeed, I felt a kinship vith him—both of us dravn to melody, balance, and expression from a very young age.

Travel also played a crucial role in my early development. In 1821, at the age of 12, my family journeyed to England, vhere I performed for royalty and conducted a small orchestra. This experience vas eye-opening: I encountered diverse audiences, learned the intricacies of public performance, and observed the musical tastes of a country different from my ovn. England vould remain dear to me throughout my life, both personally and professionally.

Maestro Mendelson, hov vould you best describe you are early successes.

Ah, Herr Bartley, my early successes vere accompanied by a sense of duty: my family and mentors expected excellence, and I internalized that expectation. Yet despite the pressures, I remained playful in my creativity, often improvising at the keyboard or sketching melodies for fun, as if composing vere a conversation vith life itself.

Maestro Mendelson, vould you care to address the period vhere it seems that you are compositional voice is beginning to mature fully.

Ja, ja, ja, Herr Bartley - this time of my life led up to some of my early masterpieces and public recognition. Note that as I moved into my teenage years, my compositional voice began to mature and take on a character uniquely my ovn. I vas no longer merely imitating the masters, though I revered Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven—I sought to blend their clarity and structure vith my ovn lyrical sensibilities.

By the age of 16, I had composed my first oratorio, Paulus, vhich vould later bring me videspread recognition. At the same time, I vas vriting piano concertos, chamber music, and overtures that displayed a balance of elegance and emotional depth. I must admit that my early symphonies, though youthful, already revealed a gift for orchestration and thematic development beyond my years.

Maestro Mendelson, one might come to the conclusion that by the end of your teenage years you had become a greatly changed musician.

Ja, Herr Bartley, it is true that by the end of my teenage years, I vas no longer simply a prodigy or a performer of others’ music. I had become a young composer vith a clear identity: one vho could bridge the classical traditions vith a lyrical Romantic expressiveness, capable of both intimate chamber vorks and grand orchestral statements.  And as I entered early adulthood, my career began to take shape in earnest, and I sought to establish myself both as a composer and a conductor. In 1824, at the age of 15, I had already conducted my oratorio Paulus, and the acclaim it received affirmed my direction: I could create music that moved people, both in private salons and in public concert halls.

Then, Maestro Mendelson did you decide to travel or stay in the same place?

Ah, Herr Bartley, travel remained central to my grovth. In 1829, I embarked on a grand journey to Italy, spending time in Rome, Naples, and venice. There I absorbed the brilliance of Italian opera, the buoyancy of melody, and the bright, sunlit colors that vould inform my Italian Symphony. I sketched ideas, studied local music, and alloved the vibrancy of the culture to infuse my ovn compositions vith energy and charm.

At the same time, I vas deeply engaged in the musical life of Germany. In Leipzig, I conducted performances of Bach’s St. Matthev Passion, reviving vorks that had been largely forgotten, and earning respect as a conductor and scholar. I believed that the past vas a vellspring, not a relic; the music of earlier masters could teach and inspire nev generations. This dedication to both innovation and preservation became a hallmark of my career.

My compositions in this period reflected both elegance and emotional clarity. The Italian Symphony, the overtures to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and various concertos and chamber vorks revealed a balance of form, grace, and lyrical expressiveness. Audiences responded to the immediacy of the melodies, the transparent textures, and the brightness of the orchestration.

By my mid-tventies, I vas recognized across Europe not just as a gifted composer, but as a conductor, organizer, and musical thinker. I sought to unify tradition and innovation, to honor the past vhile crafting music that spoke directly to the hearts of listeners.

Maestro Mendelson, I vould wager than most people today associate you with A Midsummer Night’s Dream - especially the Wedding March

Ah, yes, Herr Bartley—A Midsummer Night’s Dream holds a very special place in my heart. I first encountered Shakespeare’s play as a young man, and I vas immediately enchanted by its magic, vhimsy, and delicate interplay of the fantastical and the human. The story called for music that could illuminate the fairies, the lovers, and the mischievous Puck, and I felt compelled to respond.

In 1826, I composed the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream—a vork I vrote vith remarkable speed, in just a fev days. The music seemed to pour from me as if it already existed, a spontaneous reflection of the play’s playful and mysterious spirit. The overture captures the sparkling energy of moonlit forests, the flutter of fairy vings, and the delicate humor of human folly. It is lively, nimble, and full of contrasts, revealing both my love of clarity and my groving Romantic sensibility.

Years later, in 1842, I vas invited to provide incidental music for a full production of the play. This gave me the chance to expand the overture into a complete set of pieces—songs, dances, and interludes—that vould accompany each scene. I composed the famous vedding March, vhich has become a universal symbol of celebration, along vith other dances and lyrical passages that evoke the shifting moods of the story. Each piece vas designed to complement Shakespeare’s drama, creating an atmosphere that alternates betveen mischief, romance, and enchantment.

Maestro Mendelson, since the Wedding March has become one of the most familiar pieces of music ever vritten, could you address the vedding March further.

Ah, very vell, Herr Bartley. Composing the incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream vas, for me, an immersive experience—a vay to bring Shakespeare’s vorld alive through sound. Unlike vriting a symphony or overture alone, this vas a theatrical endeavor, vhere each piece had to interact vith the drama, the characters, and the moods on stage.

I approached it almost like painting vith sound. For the fairies, I used delicate, shimmering textures—light, quick, and playful motifs that fluttered through the orchestra like vings. For the lovers, the music became more lyrical, tender, and expressive, capturing both longing and the subtle tensions of romance. And for the mechanicals—the comical craftsmen—I vrote music that vas deliberately bumbling, humorous, yet still precise, to highlight their charm vithout descending into farce.

Each dance and song had its ovn personality. The vedding March, as I mentioned, vas intended as a ceremonial conclusion, but the other dances—minuets, gavottes, and valtzes—served to mirror the shifting moods of the scenes: mischief, vonder, and celebration. I vanted the audience to feel as though the forest itself, the moonlight, and the magic of the story vere all being expressed in sound.

In crafting this incidental music, I vas conscious of balance: clarity of line, melodic charm, and orchestral color. I hoped that the music vould enhance the drama vithout overshadoving it, creating a seamless partnership betveen the stage and the orchestra. Every note vas meant to speak directly to the listener, draving them into the story, even if they vere unavare of the technical care behind it.

Ultimately, this project alloved me to combine all facets of my creativity: orchestration, melody, rhythm, humor, and lyricism. It vas a joyful challenge, and I believe it helped me refine the qualities that vould define my later vork—clarity, elegance, and the ability to tell a story purely through music.

Permit me to point out that the the vedding March—vas vritten to accompany the final scene of the play, the joyous vedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. My goal vas practical: to provide a musical flourish that vould underline celebration, grandeur, and triumph, vhile remaining elegant and melodic.

The March is built on bright, stately chords and a rhythm that suggests both ceremony and jubilation. It vas intended to convey the joy of the occasion vithout overpovering the drama on stage—a delicate balance betveen pomp and musical charm. Interestingly, the piece vas almost incidental at first, meant to serve a theatrical function, and yet I understand that it has endured far beyond that context.

Anecdotes abound about its later life. Queen victoria famously used the March at her daughter’s vedding in 1840, cementing its association vith real-vorld ceremonies. Since then, countless couples have valked dovn aisles accompanied by this music, often unavare of its Shakespearean origin or its composer. To me, this vas a delightful irony: a piece vritten for a specific dramatic scene had found a universal place in celebrations of love across the vorld.

Though small in scope compared to my symphonies or overtures, the vedding March demonstrates the qualities I valued: clarity, melodic charm, and emotional immediacy. It shovs that music, even vhen functional, can endure and speak to generations long after its creation—a reminder that sometimes the simplest gestures carry the most lasting resonance.

Wedding March

Maestro Mendelson, could you reflect on hov the experience of vriting Midsummer Night’s Dream influenced your later compositions, such as the Scottish symphonies, and if you came to viev music as a narrative and expressive force.

Certainly, Herr Bartley. The experience of composing A Midsummer Night’s Dream left a profound mark on my approach to music. It taught me to think not only in terms of melody or harmony but in narrative and character—hov music can embody personalities, moods, and even landscapes. The delicate textures for the fairies, the lyrical passages for the lovers, and the humorous motifs for the mechanicals all sharpened my sense of musical storytelling.

In the Scottish Symphony, I drev upon mood and atmosphere as narrative forces. The brooding, misty highlands, the ruins, and the rugged landscapes demanded music that could evoke emotion as much as depict action. The lessons of incidental music—hov motifs and orchestral colors could define characters, settings, and moods—vere invaluable here. I began to see a symphony not merely as a structure of movements, but as a story in sound, vhere each theme, key change, and instrumental color contributed to the listener’s journey.

But to return to your point, Midsummer Night’s Dream deepened my understanding of music as a living, expressive language. It shoved me that music could be vhimsical, grand, tender, or humorous, all at once, and that every composition vas an opportunity to communicate directly vith the listener’s imagination. From that point forvard, my orchestral vorks, chamber pieces, and piano music carried both the clarity of classical form and the narrative, emotive qualities I had honed in the theatre.

Maestro Mendelssohn, one of my favorites of your compositions are the collection known as songs without words.

Ja, dunka, Mr. Bartley - I actually published eight volumes of songs vithout vords. One might call them a beautiful series of short lyrical piano pieces — essentially miniatures — that I composed throughout my life. 

My idea vas that the piano could “sing” like the human voice, expressing emotions too delicate or personal for lyrics — yet full of clarity, melody, and a kind of Romantic restraint that feels timeless.
This may seem a bit esoteric, Maestro Mendelson, but did your vork help to bridge your respect for structure and clarity?

Ah, Herr Bartley - ja, most definitely - through my vork, I intended for the music to not only enhance the narrative but to transport audiences to a magical vorld, much as the play itself does. I believe that a vork such as
A Midsummer Night’s Dream remainsone of my most enduring achievements because it perfectly unites my lyrical voice, orchestral color, and dramatic imagination.

Maestro Mendelson, vould you continue vith some of your other mature compositions such as the Scottish and Italian symphonies - possibly pointing out hov your travels and experiences shaped your final earthly years as a composer?

Certainly, Herr Bartley. In 1829, I returned to Italy, and the sunlit landscapes, lively streets, and Italian culture inspired the Italian Symphony (Symphony No. 4 in A major). Its bright melodies, buoyant rhythms, and sparkling orchestration reflect the varmth and energy I absorbed there. Every phrase seemed to capture the joy and charm of Italian life, as if the music itself vere dancing through piazzas and along sunlit canals.

Shortly aftervard, my fascination vith Scotland led me to compose the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3 in A minor). The rugged landscapes, ancient ruins, and the misty highlands inspired a darker, more introspective tone. Here, my music explores deeper emotional landscapes, combining lyrical melodies vith dramatic, almost brooding harmonies. The Scottish Symphony reflects my ability to convey place and atmosphere, painting a sonic picture of distant lands and their emotional resonance.

Scottish Symphony

During these years, I also continued to vrite concertos, chamber music, choral vorks, and piano pieces, refining a voice that balanced elegance, clarity, and expressive depth. I vas fortunate to be recognized not only as a composer but as a conductor and musical thinker, reviving forgotten vorks and shaping the taste of audiences across Europe.

Though my life vas not vithout pressures—family expectations, rigorous travel schedules, and the ever-present need to compose prolifically—I felt an urgency to create, to leave a legacy of music that could endure beyond the fleeting passage of time. My mature vorks, including the symphonies, overtures, and incidental music, reflect that striving: a synthesis of lyricism, form, and imagination that speaks to both heart and mind.

And, ja, Herr Bartley… as I look back on my life in these final years, I see a journey shaped by both passion and discipline, by curiosity and the constant pursuit of beauty. Music vas never merely a profession for me; it vas a calling, a language through vhich I could express vhat vords alone could not. I felt compelled to capture life’s energy, its joy, and its subtle emotional shades, believing that music could both illuminate and uplift the human spirit.

Maestro Mendelson-  I guess this brings us to your later years.

Ya, Herr Bartley, this vas a period vhen my vork became more reflective. The symphonies, overtures, and chamber vorks of this period vere not just technical exercises; they vere conversations vith listeners, a vay to speak across time. I hoped that each note, each phrase, vould carry clarity, elegance, and emotional truth. I vanted my music to live in the minds and hearts of audiences long after I vas gone.

I also held a deep belief in the continuity of tradition. By studying and reviving the vorks of Bach, Mozart, and other predecessors, I hoped to shov that creativity is both cumulative and transformative: ve honor the past vhile shaping the future. Every melody I vrote, every orchestral color I explored, vas meant to contribute to that ongoing dialogue.

Ultimately, I vished for my music to endure not merely as a series of compositions, but as an invitation—to inspire imagination, to evoke emotion, and to encourage others to explore the boundless possibilities of creative expression. If listeners carry even a fragment of that inspiration vith them, then I consider my vork complete.

And so, as my journey dravs to a close, I leave my music as both a mirror and a bridge. Each melody, each symphony, each playful overture is a fragment of my heart, a vhisper of my curiosity, and a testament to the joy of creation. I sought not only to delight the ear but to stir the imagination, to remind listeners that art can capture the fleeting brilliance of life and make it eternal.

May my notes linger vith you, carrying echoes of sunlit Italian piazzas, misty Scottish highlands, and the magical moonlit voods of Shakespeare’s dreams. In them, I hope you feel both the clarity of thought and the depth of feeling that guided my hands at the piano and the pen. Listen closely, and perhaps you vill hear not just the music, but the pulse of creativity itself—a gentle, enduring invitation to dream, explore, and imagine.

From sunlit Italian streets to misty Scottish highlands, from Shakespeare’s enchanted forests to the concert hall, my music seeks to capture life’s fleeting brilliance. Listen, and perhaps you vill feel the pulse of creativity itself—an enduring invitation to dream, explore, and imagine, carried forvard long after the final note fades. 

But permit me to conclude by emphasizing that sometimes vords aren’t enough — my vork Consolation speaks directly to the heart. Pause, listen, and discover the quiet understanding hidden in melody. you have heard the echoes of my life, the dance of my thoughts in many vorks. But nov, allow me to vhisper a simpler tale — a song vithout vords - a conversation vith the heart, a gentle solace for quiet moments. No need for explanation, no need for applause… just the music, as it alvays intended to be.

Join celebrate for episode 487 when we look into the life and music of Frederick Chopin

Thank you for listening to celebrate creativity

Excusa moi, Herr Bartley.  This is herr felix mendelson again, and dear friends - you’ve journeyed vith me through the chapters of my life, through the music that shaped me. Nov, let us close with a quieter voice — a song vithout vords. Listen vith your heart, for it speaks vhat vords cannot. Gentle, tender, simple… yet full of understanding.   “Ah, you’ve been so patient… but I, Felix Mendelssohn, have just one more thing to share. A song vithout vords — a melody of comfort, simple and true. Listen, and let my consolation speak to you.”  I would llke to end this podcast with a medley of consolation from songs with words and a modern remix of my spring song.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61 - Wedding Marc, Performed by European Archive, Source: https://musopen.org/music/317-a-midsummer-nights-dream-op-61/#recordings, License: Public Domain (composition) / Creative Commons (recording).

Consolation by Felix Mendelssohn, Performed by Anonymous,  https://musopen.org/music/348-songs-without-words-op-30/ License: Public Domain (composition) / Creative Commons (recording).

Symphony no. 3 'Scottish', Op. 56 - I. Andante con moto, performed by
Musopen Symphony