Clash of the composers

Why is Mendelssohn regarded as sentimental and second-rank? Because his reputation was wrecked by Wagner, who had his own ambitions for German culture, writes Tom Service

I'll never forget the moment my ears were opened to Mendelssohn. The Emerson Quartet was playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the last piece on the programme was Mendelssohn's Sixth String Quartet in F minor. I hadn't heard the piece before, and my hopes weren't high. Apart from the preternaturally brilliant Octet, which Mendelssohn composed when he was 16, his chamber music is rarely played in big-name recitals; presumably, I thought, because it wasn't interesting enough. But then the Sixth Quartet began. Mendelssohn wasn't supposed to sound like this: the four movements glowed with a dark fire for 25 minutes. The quartet begins with a tremulous jitter before a fragmented melody appears, but nothing in the music is safe or secure. The wildness of gesture and dissonance shocked me: this was a different universe from the genteel Victorian world I had imagined Mendelssohn was all about.

The Sixth Quartet was Mendelssohn's last major work, composed after his beloved sister Fanny - also a prodigiously talented composer - died in May 1847. Felix would live for just six more months, succumbing to a stroke aged 38. When he died, he was the most famous composer in Europe. His achievements were astonishing: as well as hugely popular orchestral works such as the Violin Concerto, he wrote two of the most popular oratorios of the mid-19th century - Paulus, a big hit in Germany, and Elijah, a staple for British choral societies after its Birmingham premiere in 1846. Mendelssohn also gave the first modern performances of Bach's music, including the Matthew Passion; he raised conducting to the level of an art-form; and he was one of the most accomplished pianists of his generation. Read more @ The Guardian