MENDELSSOHN, Felix 1809-1847

Andante und Variationen für das Pianoforte zu vier Händen ... Op. 83.a. (No. 12 der nachgelassenen Werke.) Eigene Bearbeitung des Componisten nach dessen Op. 83. [Piano 4-hands]

Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 8228], [1850].

Folio. Original publisher's blue printed wrappers. [1] (title), 2-31, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved.

Provenance
Composer Horace Middleton (1879-1961), with his small handstamp to upper wrapper and title.

Wrappers somewhat worn and soiled; partially split at spine. Light thumbing throughout; small dampstain to upper blank margin.

First Edition. MWV U159, p. 344. Hoboken 10, 273. Not in Krause or the Catalogue of the Mendelssohn Papers in the Bodleian Library.

One of the most gifted and versatile prodigies, Mendelssohn stood at the forefront of German music during the 1830s and 40s, as conductor, pianist, organist and, above all, composer. His musical style, fully developed before he was 20, drew upon a variety of influences, including the complex chromatic counterpoint of Bach, the formal clarity and gracefulness of Mozart and the dramatic power of Beethoven and Weber.

Mendelssohn’s emergence into the first rank of 19th-century German composers coincided with efforts by music historiographers to develop the concept of a Classic–Romantic dialectic in 18th and 19th-century music. To a large degree, his music reflects a fundamental tension between Classicism and Romanticism in the generation of German composers after Beethoven." R. Larry Todd in Grove Music Online

Middleton, a British-born composer, served on the faculty of Bennett College from 1919 to the mid 1930s; he was best known for the music he composed for the Greek plays performed there. See his obituary, Millbrook Round Table, November 23, 1961.

Item #35287

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