Mendelssohn: Psalm 114 - "Da Israel aus Ägypten zog", MWV A 17, Op. 51

Description

"I had really become especially fond of this piece, although it is hardly appropriate for the so-called public; but I liked it...", wrote Mendelssohn about his setting of Psalm CXIV.

Felix set the 114th Psalm to music during a summer holiday in Horchheim near Koblenz in 1839. After the world premiere at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, he subjected the score to a thorough revision, altered all the tempo markings and, above all, added a considerable amount of new measures. The result satisfied even the notoriously self-critical Mendelssohn: "I had really become particularly fond of this piece, even though it is hardly appropriate for the so-called public; but I liked it…"