SKU: BR.SON-451
Complete Works. Edited by Ralf Wehner. Linen. Complete Works. Romantic period. Complete Works. 140 pages. Breitkopf and Haertel #SON 451. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.SON-451). ISBN 9790004803615. 9 x 12 inches.
The Overture for Harmoniemusik in C major op. 24 MWV P 1 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is a special work in two respects: on the one hand, it is unique in its instrumentation in the composer's oeuvre - in the main version for 23 wind instruments; on the other hand, it exists in several versions originating from Mendelssohn himself, namely a variant for eleven wind instruments from 1826 and two arrangements for piano four hands from 1838. These versions, called Nocturno and Overture for Harmonie- and Militairmusik respectively - form the content of the present volume. The outstanding position of the composition is also underlined by a considerable variety of sources, by a number of unresolved questions connected with its composition, e.g. concerning the specifics of the contemporary instruments to be used, and by the fact that the overture in the extended wind version was the only piece of this body of works that the self-critical composer considered worthy of publication. The inspiration for its composition ultimately goes back to a stay by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and his father in 1824 at the Baltic Sea resort of Doberan (then: Dobberan), where the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin maintained a summer residence surrounded by members of his court orchestra of national renown. Thus, the music sketched there was initially not given a title, but was always referred to in the Mendelssohn family as Dobberan harmony music in reference to the place associated with it.
