Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 –
1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was
a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of
the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote
symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and
chamber music. His best-known works include his
Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the
overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and
his String Octet. His Songs With...(+)
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 –
1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was
a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of
the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote
symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and
chamber music. His best-known works include his
Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the
overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and
his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most
famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of
relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and
antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
his creative originality has been re-evaluated. He is
now among the most popular composers of the romantic
era.
Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and
revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach,
notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion
in 1829. He became well received in his travels
throughout Europe as a composer, conductor and soloist;
his ten visits to Britain – during which many of his
major works were premiered – form an important part
of his adult career. His essentially conservative
musical tastes set him apart from more adventurous
musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard
Wagner, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Hector Berlioz. The
Leipzig Conservatoire, which he founded, became a
bastion of this anti-radical outlook.
Psalm 42, Op. 42 (MWV A 15) Wie der Hirsch schreit (As
pants the hart) is a cantata by Felix Mendelssohn,
setting Psalm 42 in German. It was written and
published in 1837 (revised 1838) for soloists, mixed
choir and orchestra. Mendelssohn set the music to
Luther's German translation of Psalm 42. At the work's
first performance, in Leipzig on 1 January 1838,
Mendelssohn conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
with Clara Novello as soprano. He was the orchestra's
musical director from 1835 until his death in 1847.
Schumann opined in 1837 that Mendelssohn's setting of
Psalm 42 was the "highest point that he [Mendelssohn]
reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the
highest point recent church music has reached at all."
Mendelssohn himself described it as “my best sacred
piece… the best thing I have composed in this
manner”, a work “I hold in greater regard than most
of my other compositions
The work consists of 7 movements:
1. Chorus: Wie der Hirsch schreit (As the Hart
Longs)
2. Aria (soprano): Meine Seele dürstet nach Gott (For
my soul thirsteth for God)
3. Recitative and aria (soprano): Meine Tränen sind
meine Speise (My tears have been my meat) – Denn ich
wollte gern hingehen (For I had gone forth most
gladly)
4. Chorus: Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele (Why, my
soul, art thou so vexed?)
5. Recitative (soprano): Mein Gott, betrübt ist meine
Seele (My God, within me is my soul cast down)
6. Quintet (soprano with TTBB): Der Herr hat des Tages
verheißen (The Lord hath commanded)
7. Final chorus: Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele
(Why, my soul, art thou so vexed?)
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_42_(Mendelssohn)).
Although originally composed for Chorus (SATB) &
Orchestra, I created this Interpretation of the
Recitative: "Mein Gott, betrübt ist meine Seele" (My
God, within me is my soul cast down) from "Wie der
Hirsch schreit" (As pants the hart Op. 42 No. 5) for
Flute, Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
