Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, MWV N 16, Op. 90 - "Italian" (Version of 1834)

Description

A mystifying question of versions surrounds the Italian: right after the world premiere in London, Mendelssohn is unsatisfied with his symphony. Since he no longer has the score with him, he writes it down afresh (except for the opening movement), but stops at three quarters of the way. in the meantime, trusted experts weigh in with their views. Fanny Hensel writes to her brother: "I dont like the change in the first melody at all; why did you make it?" Nevertheless, Felix continues to busy himself with the first movement, but ultimately finds no more time for it and leaves it primarily in the form of the complete early version of 1833, which is published posthumously and remains, to this day, a standard repertoire piece in all concert halls. The revised torso, in turn, was long ignored. It was published in this volume, yet it is clear that the three movements of the incomplete final version of 1834 were from the composers viewpoint not at all ready for publication, seeing that Mendelssohn had never critically reviewed them after having penned them.