Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was ...
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This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was converted to Protestantism at age seven, maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. Through a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's oratorios Paulus, Elias, and Christus; his libretto for Adolf Bernhard Marx's oratorio Mose; and his edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, this book provides new answers to the so-called “Mendelssohn Jewish question”. The book demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a 19th-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his Christian faith without having to disparage publicly his Jewish heritage.Less
This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was converted to Protestantism at age seven, maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. Through a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's oratorios Paulus, Elias, and Christus; his libretto for Adolf Bernhard Marx's oratorio Mose; and his edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, this book provides new answers to the so-called “Mendelssohn Jewish question”. The book demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a 19th-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his Christian faith without having to disparage publicly his Jewish heritage.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his ...
More
This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his early sacred works. Mendelssohn rejected many of the less anti-Semitic suggestions of his libretto contributors Julius Furst, Adolf Bernhard Marx, and Julius Schubring, and modified the Biblical story of St. Paul to depict the Jews in a harsher light. Following the death of Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, in 1835, Mendelssohn softened the anti-Semitic content of the published version of the score. This suggests that Mendelssohn's fear of his Jewish heritage was instilled in him by his father and lessened after his father's death. The chapter also discusses Mendelssohn's cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which mimics Paulus in glorifying the Germanic gentile (or heathen) heritage.Less
This chapter discusses Felix Mendelssohn' first major oratorio, Paulus or St. Paul. First performed in 1836, Paulus demonstrates Mendelssohn's pattern of increasing the anti-Semitic content in his early sacred works. Mendelssohn rejected many of the less anti-Semitic suggestions of his libretto contributors Julius Furst, Adolf Bernhard Marx, and Julius Schubring, and modified the Biblical story of St. Paul to depict the Jews in a harsher light. Following the death of Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, in 1835, Mendelssohn softened the anti-Semitic content of the published version of the score. This suggests that Mendelssohn's fear of his Jewish heritage was instilled in him by his father and lessened after his father's death. The chapter also discusses Mendelssohn's cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which mimics Paulus in glorifying the Germanic gentile (or heathen) heritage.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's collaboration with the critic and composer Adolf Bernhard Marx. Mendelssohn agreed in 1832 to write a libretto for Marx's oratorio Mose (first performed in ...
More
This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's collaboration with the critic and composer Adolf Bernhard Marx. Mendelssohn agreed in 1832 to write a libretto for Marx's oratorio Mose (first performed in 1841, with a different libretto). Marx rejected the libretto that Mendelssohn provided, for an oratorio Mendelssohn called Moses, ending their collaboration and friendship. This chapter suggests that Marx's actions stemmed from his discomfort with the anti-Semitism in Mendelssohn's libretto. Because of his famous Jewish grandfather, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn felt the need to distance himself from Judaism in his works, and included anti-Semitic content in the Mose libretto. Mendelssohn's libretto also deployed the Old Testament story of Moses in a Christological manner, using it to remind the listener of New Testament events, and followed the anti-Semitic tradition of oratorio composers Carl Loewe and Louis Spohr.Less
This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's collaboration with the critic and composer Adolf Bernhard Marx. Mendelssohn agreed in 1832 to write a libretto for Marx's oratorio Mose (first performed in 1841, with a different libretto). Marx rejected the libretto that Mendelssohn provided, for an oratorio Mendelssohn called Moses, ending their collaboration and friendship. This chapter suggests that Marx's actions stemmed from his discomfort with the anti-Semitism in Mendelssohn's libretto. Because of his famous Jewish grandfather, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn felt the need to distance himself from Judaism in his works, and included anti-Semitic content in the Mose libretto. Mendelssohn's libretto also deployed the Old Testament story of Moses in a Christological manner, using it to remind the listener of New Testament events, and followed the anti-Semitic tradition of oratorio composers Carl Loewe and Louis Spohr.
