Concert Critique: Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto at Dallas Symphony

Concert Details and Performers

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra presented an all-Mendelssohn program on September 22 and 23, 2011. The orchestra was conducted by Jaap van Zweden, with Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma serving as the featured soloist. The three works performed were Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 10, the Violin Concerto in E Minor, and Symphony No. 1.

Simone Lamsma is a Dutch-born performer who has appeared on concert stages around the world. She began playing the violin at the age of five and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in the United Kingdom. At the time of this performance, she performed on a 1718 Cremona violin (Dallas Symphony Orchestra, 2011).

Jaap van Zweden was born in Amsterdam and began his musical career as a violinist. At the age of 19, he became the youngest concertmaster ever appointed to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has since built an international reputation as a conductor, leading orchestras in venues across the world.

Felix Mendelssohn: Biographical Background

Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer and pianist widely regarded as one of the most talented composers of the nineteenth century. Born in Hamburg in 1809, he was a prodigy who demonstrated exceptional ability at the piano, violin, and painting from an early age. He was raised in a prosperous family that offered him considerable cultural advantages. Together with his sister Fanny, he traveled to Paris to study the compositions of Mozart and Bach, an experience that profoundly shaped his creative voice.

That formative study inspired Mendelssohn to produce eleven symphonies, five operas, and a large body of works for the violin. Most of his compositions were written between 1820 and his death in 1847. Among his best-known works are the Violin Concerto for Piano and Violin in D Minor, Die Wandernden Komödianten, the Violin Sonata in F Minor, the A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture (Op. 21), the Rondo Capriccioso in E Major, and the Salve Regina in E-flat (Felix Mendelssohn, 2002).

Mendelssohn String Symphony No. 10

String Symphony No. 10 is a Romantic piece composed by Mendelssohn in 1823, written in B Minor with an average duration of approximately ten minutes. The work opens with a short Adagio, followed by the Allegro. The Adagio — a feature common to many of Mendelssohn's earlier compositions — reflects the influence of Mozart. It is slow and somber in character, while the Allegro is faster and lilting in contrast. The piece concludes with a long, breathless stretch from the performers before breaking off gently at the end.

The Violin Concerto in E Minor

The Violin Concerto in E Minor is one of Mendelssohn's last major works and one of the most frequently performed violin concertos in the repertoire. Published in 1845 and written for a solo violinist, the piece has an average performance time of approximately thirty minutes.

The first movement is the Allegro molto appassionato, lasting approximately thirteen minutes. It opens in E Minor with rapid notes that gradually subside, followed by a cadenza that builds to rapid notes and rhythms in E Major before returning to E Minor to close.

The second movement, Andante, lasts approximately nine minutes and transitions from E Minor to C Major. This is the melodic heart of the concerto, dark and somber in places, and concludes with a trembling effect that resolves into a subdued and peaceful close.

The third and final movement, Allegro molto vivace, lasts approximately seven minutes. It opens in B Major with fast ascending and descending passages that demand considerable precision from the soloist, then moves into G Major for more sustained melodic material before ending with a frenetic coda (International Music Score Library Project, 2006).

This is one of the most technically demanding works in the violin repertoire. The Andante requires nimble fingering to realize the full melodic effect, while the Allegro molto vivace places exacting demands on the performer's accuracy throughout its rapid scalar passages.