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“Symphony No. 4” by Felix Mendelssohn, the German composer, known as the “Italian Symphony,” is a symbol of the atmosphere of Italy—an experience the young Mendelssohn encountered during his travels and transformed into notes with his magical pen. It can take listeners on a musical journey from the mood of Germany to the sunny lands of Southern Europe.
The Tehran Symphony Orchestra, conducted by guest conductor Maziar Younesi, will go on stage on the 15th of Aban (November 5) to create an unforgettable night of classical music. Among the pieces to be performed, Symphony No. 4 by Felix Mendelssohn, the prominent German composer, will have a special brilliance. With its freshness and magic, this work is a symbol of the atmosphere of Italy, which the young Mendelssohn experienced during his travels and transformed into notes with his magical pen. In this text, we will become more familiar with the artistic dimensions of this composer and his exceptional symphony, which is known as the Italian Symphony.
Felix Mendelssohn (born February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany – died November 4, 1847 in Leipzig) was a prominent German composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher, and one of the important figures of the early Romantic period. In his works, Mendelssohn used classical patterns and forms but initiated aspects of Romanticism that emphasized imagination and emotions, and in a way, were considered a departure from classical forms. Among his outstanding works, one can mention the Overture to Romeo and Juliet (1826), the Italian Symphony (1833), the Violin Concerto (1844), two piano concertos (1831 and 1837), the oratorio Elijah (1846), and several chamber music pieces.
Mendelssohn was born into a Jewish family with a rich cultural heritage; his parents, Abraham and Lea Salomon Mendelssohn, taught him his first piano lessons. Although the Mendelssohn family was proud of their Jewish roots, under the influence of 19th-century liberal ideas, they adopted the Christian faith, and thus Felix and his siblings were baptized as Lutherans in 1816. In 1822, upon the baptism of the parents, the family chose the surname “Bartholdy.”
At the time of the French occupation of Hamburg in 1811, the family moved to Berlin, where Mendelssohn continued his music education under teachers such as Ludwig Berger and Carl Friedrich Zelter and benefited from their instruction in composition. In addition to music, he received training in literature and the visual arts, and his mind was extensively nurtured during childhood. Mendelssohn traveled to Paris with his sister, where he received advanced piano instruction and became acquainted with the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Mendelssohn had extraordinary talent in composition from childhood. During his early years, he wrote five operas, eleven symphonies for string orchestra, concertos, sonatas, and fugues — most of these works were kept in manuscript form at the Prussian State Library, though many of them were lost during World War II. Mendelssohn gave his first public performance in 1818, at the age of nine, in Berlin.
In 1821, Mendelssohn traveled to Weimar to meet the prominent poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and performed works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Mozart for him. A close friendship developed between the two. In Paris, the famous composer Luigi Cherubini recognized his talent, and the following year Mendelssohn reached his artistic maturity by composing the Overture to Romeo and Juliet. This piece, with its poetic melodies and exceptional orchestration, revealed his creative mind and a bright future, foreshadowing some features of the orchestral style of Rimsky-Korsakov.
Mendelssohn also had notable activities as a conductor. On March 11, 1829, at the Berlin Sing-Akademie, he conducted the first revival performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion after the composer’s death, thus playing a major role in reviving Bach’s works in the 19th century. During this period, Mendelssohn also traveled to Switzerland and met Carl Maria von Weber. The performance of Weber’s opera Der Freischütz in 1821 in Berlin encouraged Mendelssohn to create a national voice in his own music. One of his important works from this period was the String Octet in E-flat major (1825), which, in addition to demonstrating remarkable technical skill and stylistic quality, showed great melodic and rhythmic originality. In this work, Mendelssohn developed the scherzo style—fast and playful—which he later used again in his music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1843).
In the spring of 1829, Mendelssohn made his first trip to England and conducted his Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1824) at the London Philharmonic Society. That summer, he traveled to Scotland and, in his letters from this trip, offered poetic and profound descriptions of the land. He went to Scotland “with a mind open to native melodies, an ear to hear the echo of unspoiled nature, and a heart to understand the pure feelings of the simply dressed people.” During this trip, he also met Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. Mendelssohn’s literary, visual, and musical imagination often intertwined. For example, in a letter sent from the Hebrides, he mentioned the turbulence of the waves on the Scottish coast and symbolically recorded the opening notes of his work The Hebrides (1830–1832).
In 1830 and 1832, Mendelssohn took several trips through Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, and eventually returned to London in 1832, where he conducted The Hebrides and published his first piano book titled Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words), which had been completed in Venice in 1830. With his charming and refined music, Mendelssohn quickly gained popularity in England and became one of the most beloved composers of the 19th century in that country. During his short life, he traveled to England ten times and gradually came to be known as the favorite composer of the Victorian era—even becoming Queen Victoria’s favored composer.
Mendelssohn’s humorous account of his meeting with the Queen and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace in 1843—both of whom had a special affection for him—reveals his awareness and slight criticism of royal luxuries and ceremonies. His Symphony No. 3 in A minor (Scottish Symphony) was dedicated to Queen Victoria, and along with other works, earned great popularity among the English public. One of the most prominent examples of this popularity was the use of his Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in royal wedding ceremonies, following its performance at the wedding of the Royal Princess in 1858. He also gave the first public performances in London of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and Concerto in G major, and was one of the first pianists to perform concertos from memory—an exhibition of his extraordinary memory that also contributed to his fame. His organ works also received considerable attention. The great success of the oratorio Elijah, first performed in 1846 in Birmingham, established Mendelssohn as an influential composer in English music, to the extent that he was given a status equal to that of Handel. However, after his death, some believed that this influence had become somewhat limiting for English music. Later generations of English composers, influenced by Wagner, Debussy, and Stravinsky, criticized Mendelssohn’s musical dominance and were dissatisfied with the sentimentality of his lesser-known works. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that Mendelssohn, through his performances and compositions, was able to spark a flame in the national music of England.
Mendelssohn’s travels after his first visit to London brought him many new and diverse experiences. The vivid details of these journeys are preserved in his long letters. On Goethe’s recommendation, he had read Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, and under the influence of this book, he recorded his reflections with passionate emotion. In Venice, he was astonished by the paintings of Titian and Giorgione, but in Rome, he found the church singers “almost unmusical” and regarded Gregorian music as incomprehensible. In Rome, he observed a colony of German artists with “long beards” and offered a humorous description of them. Later, in Leipzig—where Hector Berlioz and Mendelssohn symbolically shared the role of conductor—Berlioz gave him a large baton made of lemon wood with a natural finish. In return, Mendelssohn mockingly presented Berlioz with a light baton made of whalebone with a fine leather covering. This symbolic difference in batons clearly reflected the contrasting personalities of the two composers.
In 1833, Mendelssohn returned to London to conduct the Italian Symphony (Symphony No. 4 in A major), and in the same year, he was appointed music director in Düsseldorf, where he added works by Beethoven, Cherubini, and Bach’s cantatas to the church programs. It was in Düsseldorf that he began work on his first oratorio, St. Paul. In 1835, he took over as conductor of the famed Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and by raising the orchestra’s performance standards, turned Leipzig into the musical capital of Germany. He had friendships in Leipzig with composers such as Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, and in his first concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, he conducted the overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (1828–1832).
Among the outstanding works Mendelssohn composed in the following years are Variations (1841) for piano, the Hymn of Praise (Lobgesang) (1840), Psalm 114, Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor (1837), and several chamber music pieces. In 1838, he began working on the Violin Concerto in E minor. Unlike his usual method of composing with the speed and ease of writing a simple letter, this lyrical masterpiece demanded six years of careful and serious attention. This violin concerto continued to be praised well into the 20th century for its warm melody and delightful energy, evoking for listeners the linguistic delicacy of 19th-century music. Its popularity remained undiminished even with the rise of heavier and more dramatic violin concertos by composers such as Johannes Brahms, Béla Bartók, and Alban Berg. Although many of Mendelssohn’s works are like cameos or charming, descriptive portraits—and may seem lacking in romantic depth—pieces such as the Violin Concerto and certain chamber works display lyrical qualities, childlike vitality, and a particular freshness that alone can convey a deep sense of romantic wonder.
Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, known as the Italian Symphony, is an orchestral work by the German composer created with the aim of evoking the sights and sounds of Italy. Its final movement, one of the most dramatic pieces by the composer, draws on the rhythms of Neapolitan dances. The symphony’s first performance took place on March 13, 1833, in London.
In the years 1830 to 1831, just having turned twenty, Mendelssohn traveled to Italy. He left Germany for the south to enjoy the pleasant climate and local arts, but he was not particularly satisfied with the region’s music. In letters to his friends and family, he plainly stated that he “didn’t hear even a single worthwhile note.” He described the orchestras in Rome as “incredibly bad” and regarded Neapolitan music as “vulgar.” Nevertheless, it seems these negative experiences—or perhaps the hope of overcoming them—prompted him to begin writing his Italian Symphony. This piece, commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society, was completed in the fall of 1832 and was met with great acclaim at its premiere. Mendelssohn described this symphony as “the happiest piece I have ever written and the most mature work I have ever done.”
Although the Italian Symphony appears outwardly cheerful and listenable, the process of composing it was not easy for Mendelssohn. He admitted that he had spent some of the bitterest moments of his life working on it. After the first performance, he made major revisions to the second, third, and fourth movements in 1834, and in the following year, he rewrote the first movement. Despite the work’s success, Mendelssohn withheld it from publication and avoided performing it in Germany. Until his death in 1847, he continued to revise it. Four years after his death, Ignaz Moscheles—a Czech pianist and one of his teachers—published an edited version of the symphony, which was eventually printed.
Musicians have offered various interpretations of the Italian Symphony. The extroverted opening movement may depict a lively urban scene in Venice. The second movement, with its solemn tone, likely portrays Rome during Holy Week, as Mendelssohn mentioned in his letters the impact of the city’s religious ceremonies. The third movement, a graceful minuet in the style of Mozart, recalls the Renaissance palaces of Florence. However, none of these interpretations are definitive.
In contrast, the fourth and final movement clearly and explicitly depicts a rural atmosphere in southern Italy. In this section, Mendelssohn blends two lively local dance styles: the saltarello and the tarantella. These two dances are rhythmically different but similar in style and energy; both are performed with endless fervor and an unmistakably Italian spirit. In this spirited finale, Mendelssohn—disappointed by Italy’s formal music—expressed his love for its folk music and showcased the power of Italian folk styles in an orchestral form.
Now, everything is in place for the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maziar Younesi, to perform Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony and take the audience on a musical journey from the atmosphere of Germany to the sunlit lands of southern Europe. It remains to be seen how the orchestra will deliver this masterpiece on November 5, and how, with strength and finesse, it will convey the symphony’s passion and delicacy to the ears and hearts of listeners.
Written By Farid Parish
