MENDELSSOHN, Felix 1809-1847

RIETZ, Julius 1812-1877, arr.

[Op. 74]. Athalia [Piano-vocal score]

von Racine ... Op. 74. No. 2 der nachgelassenen Werke. Clavierauszug nach der Original-Partitur bearbeitet von J. Rietz ... Pr. 5 Thlr.

Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 7899], [ca. 1851].

Folio. Original publisher's brown wrappers with titling within decorative border. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 3-93, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved. Text in German and French.

Scharfenberg & Luis, New York handstamp to blank lower margin of upper wrapper and again to lower margin of title along with publisher's stamp.

Wrappers quite worn and chipped; spine reinforced with tape. Slightly browned; edges of some leaves chipped.

First Edition, later issue. Wehner MWV M 16, p. 213. Krause 8. Ward Jones III, 316. Not in Hoboken.

Mendelssohn composed his incidental music for a production of Jean Racine's Athalie (1691) commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. It was staged for the court at the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin on 1 December 1845.

"Though little-known today, the music for Athalie merits performance. Especially striking are Mendelssohn's paraphrases of chorales, including Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh’ darein and, in a scene in which the high priest Joad describes a vision of the New Jerusalem, Vom Himmel hoch.

"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.

Item #36208

Price: $225.00  other currencies