Felix Mendelssohn - Famous Works

Oberon and Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Oberon and Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a scene that inspired Mendelssohn’s famous “Wedding March.”

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) was one of the central figures of early Romanticism and, at the same time, a composer with a profound awareness of the European musical tradition. In his writing, classical clarity of form coexists with Romantic imagination, lyrical melody, and an exceptionally transparent sense of orchestral texture. His remarkable maturity was already evident in adolescence: the String Octet, Op. 20, was completed when he was sixteen, and only a year later he composed the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

His output extends across nearly all the major musical genres of his time. The symphonic world, the concerto, chamber music, piano and organ music, the lied, the oratorio, and music for the theatre all coexist within a body of work numbering around 750 compositions. Behind the apparent naturalness of his music stood an exceptionally exacting composer: surviving manuscripts show that he repeatedly returned to his scores, revising even works that had already been performed or prepared for publication.

His historical importance extends beyond his own compositions. As a conductor, pianist, and organizer of musical life, he made a substantial contribution to the formation of nineteenth-century concert culture. In particular, the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Berlin Sing-Akademie on March 11, 1829 became a landmark in the renewed public reception of Bach’s music. For Mendelssohn, the older musical tradition was not an object of simple revival: counterpoint, chorale writing, and choral technique became living elements of his personal language.

Symphonies and Symphonic Music

The familiar numbering of Mendelssohn’s symphonies does not correspond to the order in which they were composed. The “Reformation,” known as No. 5, predates the “Italian” No. 4 and the “Scottish” No. 3, while Lobgesang acquired the designation “Symphony No. 2” only after the composer’s death. This discrepancy reflects the complicated publication history of the works and Mendelssohn’s persistent tendency to revise, or to withhold from publication, scores with which he was not yet satisfied.

  • Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 (1824). Mendelssohn’s first symphony for full orchestra was written when he was fifteen, following his series of youthful string symphonies. Its dramatic momentum, contrapuntal fluency, and command of the Classical symphonic tradition reveal a technical level extraordinary for his age. For his first public appearance with the Philharmonic Society of London on May 25, 1829, he replaced the original third movement with a new orchestral transcription of the Scherzo from the Octet, Op. 20.
  • Symphony No. 5 in D minor, “Reformation,” Op. 107 (1829–1830). The work was associated with the three-hundredth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Historical and religious references enter directly into the music: the so-called “Dresden Amen” appears in the introduction to the first movement, while the finale culminates in Martin Luther’s chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. The chorale does not function as an external emblem; it becomes structural material within the symphonic argument.
  • Symphony No. 4 in A major, “Italian,” Op. 90. Mendelssohn’s travels in Italy lie behind the symphony’s bright, kinetic character, without turning the work into literal musical description. The opening Allegro vivace and the closing Saltarello frame two more restrained inner movements. The premiere took place in London on May 13, 1833. Mendelssohn, however, did not regard the score as final: in 1834 he extensively revised the last three movements and intended to rework the first as well, but never completed this second comprehensive version. The version generally known today is essentially based on the complete 1833 score, published after his death.
  • Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish,” Op. 56. The initial idea dates back to Mendelssohn’s journey to Scotland in 1829 and his visit to Holyrood in Edinburgh, but the symphony was not completed until 1842. Its four movements are joined into a single continuous trajectory, avoiding the usual extended pauses, while the recurrence of related material strengthens the sense of unity. The first performance took place on March 3, 1842 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, conducted by the composer.

Concert Overtures and Orchestral Works

In his concert overtures, Mendelssohn developed one of the most characteristic paths of early Romantic symphonic writing. Literary works, places, and travel experiences become starting points for self-contained orchestral compositions in which an extra-musical idea coexists with rigorously organized form.

  • Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21 (1826). Written when the composer was seventeen, it is one of the clearest documents of his early genius. The four opening wind chords open a world in which the fleeting motion of the fairies, the lyricism of the love episodes, the comic weight of the mechanicals, and the ceremonial character of the Athenian court coexist within an exceptionally coherent sonata form. The work was also decisive in the development of the independent concert overture in the nineteenth century.
  • The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26. The composition originated in Mendelssohn’s 1829 journey to Scotland and the Hebrides, although the score underwent successive revisions before reaching its final form in 1832. Its characteristic opening motif, changes of density, and constant movement across the orchestral surface evoke a seascape without resorting to simplistic sonic imitation.
  • Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27. Goethe’s two poems provide the work’s dramatic foundation. At the outset, absolute calm is presented not as serenity but as a threat to a sailing vessel unable to move. The gradual appearance of wind activates the entire orchestra and transforms stasis into motion, leading to the radiant conclusion of the voyage.
  • The Fair Melusine, Op. 32. The legendary story of Melusine is transformed into a fluid orchestral narrative. The undulating music of the opening returns as a fundamental sonic feature, while more dramatic passages create contrast without disturbing the work’s coherence. The score is another characteristic example of Mendelssohn’s tendency to return to his compositions and revise them.
  • Ruy Blas Overture, Op. 95 (1839). The immediate occasion was a performance of Victor Hugo’s drama. From the weight of the opening chords to the impetuous motion of the main section, the overture compresses powerful theatrical energy into an independent symphonic form.

Concertos

In Mendelssohn’s mature concertos, virtuosity remains important, but it is integrated into the overall form rather than functioning as an independent display. Particularly characteristic is his tendency to reduce breaks between movements and create larger, continuous musical trajectories.

  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1831). The piano enters almost immediately, without the extended orchestral exposition that characterized much of the Classical concerto tradition. The three movements are linked, while the brilliant piano writing is integrated into a compact and highly kinetic structure.
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40 (1837). Darker at the opening and more restrained in outward display, it preserves a close relationship between soloist and orchestra. Rapid virtuoso passages alternate with lyrical episodes, and the movements are connected in a continuous progression.
  • Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64. The idea for the work is already documented in an 1838 letter to the violinist Ferdinand David, although its completion required several years. David collaborated closely with Mendelssohn and gave the first performance in Leipzig on March 13, 1845, with Niels Gade conducting. The immediate entrance of the solo violin, the placement of the written-out cadenza before the recapitulation of the first movement, and the connection of the three movements without conventional pauses give the concerto an unusual sense of organic continuity.

Chamber Music

Chamber music accompanied Mendelssohn from the years of astonishing youthful maturity to the final months of his life. Across this body of work, Classical balance, contrapuntal density, virtuoso motion, and, in the late works, an expressive intensity far sharper than the image of mere “elegance” often associated with the composer all come together.

  • String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 (1825). Completed on October 15, 1825, when Mendelssohn was sixteen, it was presented to his violin teacher Eduard Rietz. The eight instruments are treated as a single, exceptionally flexible body rather than simply as two quartets. The Scherzo, with its almost weightless articulation, lightning-fast exchanges of material, and constant sense of motion, anticipates the world that would emerge a year later in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • String Quartets in A minor, Op. 13, and E-flat major, Op. 12. In these two youthful quartets, the influence of Beethoven’s late works becomes a creative stimulus. The return of themes from movement to movement and the attempt to unify the cycle reveal a composer studying the Classical tradition in order to discover new forms of coherence.
  • Three String Quartets, Op. 44. Here Mendelssohn’s mature technique allows a greater naturalness in the relationship among the four voices. The writing remains transparent even in contrapuntally dense passages, while the mobility of the fast movements coexists with expansive lyrical phrases.
  • String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 (1847). Written after the sudden death of his sister Fanny Hensel, it belongs to the most agitated pages in his entire output. Relentless rhythmic tension, abrupt dynamic changes, and dense texture differ markedly from the balanced luminosity of many earlier works. The biographical circumstance is important to the history of the composition without, by itself, exhausting the quartet’s musical content.
  • String Quintets Nos. 1 and 2, Opp. 18 and 87. The addition of a second viola gives the texture greater depth in the middle register. The Second Quintet, from 1845, belongs to Mendelssohn’s late period and combines broad melodic gestures with denser internal writing.
  • Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, Opp. 45 and 58. Mendelssohn treats cello and piano as equal partners. Especially in the Second Sonata, the expanded scale and intensity of the piano writing move the genre well beyond the older model of a melodic instrument with simple accompaniment.
  • Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 (1839). The cello’s broad opening melody meets a piano part of intense mobility and virtuoso demand. Mendelssohn thoroughly revised the work before its publication in 1840, especially reshaping the piano writing. The process reveals how much refinement could lie behind the impression of natural flow that so often characterizes his music.
  • Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66 (1845). Darker and technically more demanding than the first, it was composed in March and April 1845. In the finale, the appearance of a chorale within the instrumental texture connects the world of chamber music with one of the deepest and most persistent sources of Mendelssohn’s compositional language.

Works for Piano and Organ

Mendelssohn’s keyboard output reveals two different sides of the composer. At the piano, the concise lyrical form, singing line, and elegant virtuosity occupy a central position. In the organ works, by contrast, the relationship with chorale, fugue, and the tradition of Bach becomes especially prominent.

  • Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14. A lyrical slow introduction leads to a rapid Presto in E minor, where light articulation and virtuoso movement anticipate characteristic aspects of Mendelssohn’s mature piano writing.
  • Fantasia in F-sharp minor, “Scottish Sonata,” Op. 28. The title itself suggests the coexistence of two different ideas: free fantasy and organized sonata form. The movements are linked and move from reflective lyricism toward increasingly intense virtuoso motion.
  • Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words). These pieces constitute one of Mendelssohn’s most characteristic contributions to the Romantic piano repertoire. The underlying idea is simple but fertile: a purely instrumental composition can possess the lyrical immediacy of a lied without requiring a poetic text. Altogether, eight books of six pieces were formed; the first six were published during the composer’s lifetime, while the final two were assembled and issued posthumously. Most of the descriptive titles later attached to individual pieces did not originate with Mendelssohn himself.
  • Six Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35. The historical technique of fugue is absorbed here into a distinctly Romantic pianistic and harmonic language. Mendelssohn does not treat counterpoint as an exercise in an old style, but as an active compositional resource.
  • Variations sérieuses in D minor, Op. 54 (1841). One of Mendelssohn’s most important works for solo piano. The seventeen variations were written for a collective publication whose proceeds were intended to support the Beethoven monument in Bonn. The title sérieuses itself signals a deliberate distinction from the fashion for superficially dazzling Variations brillantes: virtuosity arises through the continuous transformation of the theme rather than as an added external display.
  • Six Organ Sonatas, Op. 65 (1844–1845). These works form the core of Mendelssohn’s mature organ output. The term “sonata” is used with considerable freedom: chorales, fugues, lyrical sections, and virtuoso movements appear in differing configurations, creating in effect a panorama of his organ style. The sonatas remain a central part of the instrument’s repertoire.

Oratorios, Choral Works, and Vocal Music

Choral composition is not a peripheral area of Mendelssohn’s output. His deep familiarity with Bach and Handel is joined to contemporary orchestral writing and a strong sense of dramatic structure. Through his large-scale works, the oratorio and related choral forms acquired a renewed place in nineteenth-century musical life.

  • Paulus (St Paul), Op. 36. Mendelssohn’s first major mature oratorio centers on the conversion and apostolic mission of Paul. Choral fugues, chorales, and the alternation of narrative and reflection reveal a profound connection with older German and Handelian traditions without abandoning the musical language of the nineteenth century. The two major oratorios, St Paul and Elijah, are central expressions of this dialogue between past and present.
  • Psalm 42, “Wie der Hirsch schreit,” Op. 42. The alternation between soloists and chorus, the careful dramatic shaping of the individual numbers, and the gradual creation of large climaxes make it one of Mendelssohn’s most important psalm settings.
  • Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), Op. 52 (1840). Mendelssohn described it as a “symphony for chorus and orchestra”: three continuous instrumental movements lead into an extended vocal section for soloists and chorus. The work was composed in connection with the 1840 celebrations of Gutenberg and printing. The familiar designation “Symphony No. 2” did not come from Mendelssohn; it was introduced posthumously by the editors of the old complete edition. It is therefore more accurate to regard the work as a symphony-cantata rather than simply as the second of his numbered symphonies.
  • Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night), Op. 60. This is not incidental music, as stated in the earlier version of the article, but a secular ballad for soloists, chorus, and orchestra based on a poem by Goethe. The conflict between an old pagan community and the forces of Christianization takes on a strongly dramatic character, with the chorus actively participating in the unfolding action. An early version was performed in 1833, but Mendelssohn radically revised the score before publishing it in 1844.
  • Elijah, Op. 70 (1846). The premiere took place at the Birmingham Music Festival on August 26, 1846 under Mendelssohn’s own direction. The figure of the prophet is presented through a score in which biblical narrative, large choral scenes, lyrical passages, and the orchestra form a unified dramatic architecture. Despite the great success of the first performance, Mendelssohn continued to revise the work, once again demonstrating how reluctant he was to regard a composition as truly finished.
  • Hear My Prayer, MWV B 49. Smaller in scale than the oratorios, the work moves from the personal supplication of the solo voice toward an increasingly expansive choral dimension. Its closing section, especially well known in the English choral tradition as O for the Wings of a Dove, also acquired an independent life.
  • Lieder for voice and piano. In Mendelssohn’s many songs, the melodic line is generally central, supported by piano writing that avoids unnecessary density. The same need for direct, concentrated lyrical expression connects the vocal lieder with the world of the Songs Without Words.

Music for the Theatre

Opera did not become a central axis of Mendelssohn’s mature output, but his relationship with the theatre was highly productive. In his incidental music, orchestra and chorus do not function as decorative accompaniment; they are closely connected with the flow, character, and atmosphere of the dramatic work.

  • Music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61 (1843). Seventeen years after the youthful Overture, Mendelssohn returned to Shakespeare to compose music for a staged production of the entire play. The earlier Overture was integrated into the new score with such naturalness that the chronological distance between the two phases of composition is almost impossible to detect stylistically. The Scherzo, Intermezzo, Nocturne, and the famous “Wedding March” acquired independent concert lives, but within the complete work they correspond to specific moments in Shakespeare’s drama.
  • Antigone, Op. 55. In the music for Sophocles’ tragedy, the chorus assumes a central role. Mendelssohn does not attempt a reconstruction of ancient Greek music; he uses the resources of his own time to approach the collective and ritual function of the chorus within the drama.
  • Oedipus at Colonus, Op. 93, and Athalie, Op. 74. These later works continue Mendelssohn’s exploration of the relationship between dramatic speech, chorus, and orchestra. Together with Antigone and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they reveal a side of his mature output that often remains less familiar than the symphonies and chamber music.

The Legacy of His Music

The older image of Mendelssohn as an exclusively “elegant” and conservative composer is not sufficient to describe his music. Beneath the clarity of the surface there is often substantial formal exploration. The independent concert overture acquires new poetic force, breaks between the movements of symphonies and concertos are reduced in order to form broader continuous trajectories, and the Scherzo develops into a wholly personal world of speed, transparency, and almost weightless motion.

Equally characteristic is his relationship with the music of the past. Bachian counterpoint, the choral tradition, and the Protestant chorale do not appear as historical references detached from the present. They are absorbed into a Romantic harmonic and orchestral language and become active elements of form. This connection between older techniques and the needs of his own time characterizes both Mendelssohn’s work as a composer and his activity as a conductor and musical editor.

Mendelssohn died in 1847 at the age of only thirty-eight, yet left around 750 compositions. From the Octet and the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream of his adolescence to Elijah and the F-minor String Quartet of his final years, his output displays a remarkable continuity: structural discipline, lyrical immediacy, meticulous craftsmanship, and an enduring dialogue with musical history. In this coexistence of historical memory and Romantic imagination lies one of the most recognizable and lasting qualities of his art.