Mendelssohn in Performance

This book does a superb job of explaining the 19th-century sound environment of Felix Mendelssohn and his audiences. Reichwald (Converse College) and his fellow contributors put forward the premise that knowing this historical world is critical for the modern performer. The relevant issues are many and complex, including, for example, the original concert venues, the circumstances of performance, the instruments available, the 19th-century public's expectations, and the meaning of Mendelssohn's notation. Suggesting solutions for the modern performer, the essays explore a variety of circumstances and problems: the smaller piano and its contemporary piano technique, organs available to Mendelssohn, violin technique, Mendelssohn's orchestral forces (about 45 to 50), performing venues (the home stage for theater events, the public stage for music/dramatic readings, and massive quasi-religious settings for Handel's works). The book also includes essays on Mendelssohn's scores (the interpretation of hairpins, abbreviations, metronome markings, tempo indications) and on the significance of contemporary text translations, some sanctioned by the multilingual Mendelssohn, some not (surprisingly, translations to German for works not originally written in that language are especially suspect). With this arsenal of knowledge, a performer can create an informed 21st-century rendition of a Mendelssohn work. Summing Up: Essential. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, professionals. -CHOICE