Mendelssohn String Symphonies Sheet Music, Program Notes and recordings

The Prodigy's Workshop

Perhaps no great composer has ever had a more advantageous childhood than Felix Mendelssohn. His wealthy and highly cultured family provided him with the finest education and fostered his talent at every turn. The most remarkable feature of his musical upbringing was the institution of the Sonntagsmusiken—private Sunday morning concerts held in the family’s grand Berlin home. For these events, his parents hired a small, professional orchestra. This gave the young Felix an unparalleled opportunity: a personal orchestra for which he could compose, and with which he could immediately hear his musical ideas brought to life. The thirteen String Symphonies, written between the ages of twelve and fourteen, are the primary product of this incredible "workshop." They are not mere school exercises, but polished, practical works written for performance, through which he taught himself the art of the symphony.

A Secret Diary in Score Form

For more than a century after Mendelssohn’s death, these incredible early works remained virtually unknown, locked away in archives. Their rediscovery and publication in the mid-20th century was a musicological revelation. It fundamentally changed our understanding of Mendelssohn’s development, proving that the seemingly effortless perfection of masterpieces like the String Octet (written at 16) and the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (written at 17) was not a sudden miracle, but the result of years of intensive, hands-on training. Listening to the String Symphonies in chronological order is like reading a secret diary of his musical education, witnessing in real time as he grapples with and masters the styles of the great composers who came before him.

The Early Sinfonias: Mastering Classicism

The first six symphonies, composed when Mendelssohn was just twelve, are brilliant studies in the Classical style. They are primarily modeled on the three-movement (fast-slow-fast) Italian sinfonia form. Throughout these works, the spirits of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are everywhere present. The formal structures are clear and elegant, the melodies are graceful, and the string writing is transparent and beautifully balanced. Even here, however, flashes of the mature Mendelssohn appear in moments of surprising harmonic ingenuity and in the sheer, bubbling energy that propels the music forward.

A Turn Towards Drama: Beethoven's Shadow

Beginning with Mendelssohn's Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor, the works become noticeably more ambitious in scale and emotional scope. Mendelssohn moves from the three-movement model to the more substantial four-movement symphonic form. The influence of Ludwig van Beethoven can be clearly felt in the increased drama, the powerful dynamic contrasts, and the greater complexity of the development sections. The Sinfonia No. 8 in D major is a pivotal work, a piece of such confidence and brilliance that the young composer himself re-orchestrated it for full orchestra with winds, brass, and timpani, bringing it even closer to the Beethovenian model.

The "Swiss" Symphony: A Youthful Masterpiece

The grandest of the early set is arguably Mendelssohn's Sinfonia No. 9 in C minor, a substantial four-movement work sometimes nicknamed the "Swiss" Symphony. Composed after a family vacation to Switzerland, it is a mature and powerful work that synthesizes his studies of the Classical masters with his emerging Romantic voice. Its most famous feature is the scherzo, whose trio section features a charming, folk-like melody that is said to be based on a Swiss yodel. It is a brilliant and imaginative work that stands on its own as a youthful masterpiece.

The Bach Revelation: A Contrapuntal Deep Dive

The later string symphonies reveal the most important influence on Mendelssohn’s musical development: Johann Sebastian Bach. Under the guidance of his teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, Mendelssohn was undertaking a deep study of Bach’s long-neglected music. This new passion is immediately audible in the later sinfonias. The textures become thicker and more complex, and brilliant, intricate fugues and other forms of rigorous counterpoint become central features, especially in the finales. In these works, one can also hear the influence of Bach's son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, in the dramatic, recitative-like passages and sudden, startling shifts in mood.