Welcome To June Everyone. Today I have the Mendelssohn Octet for you along with its original manuscript rehosted from IMSLP. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the work:
Felix Mendelssohn‘s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 was composed in the autumn of 1825, when the composer was at the young age of 16.
The work comprises four movements:
- Allegro moderato ma con fuoco
- Andante
- Scherzo
- Presto
A typical performance of the work lasts around thirty minutes, with the first movement usually comprising roughly half of this.
The scherzo, later scored for orchestra as a replacement for the minuet in the composer’s First Symphony at its premiere, is believed to have been inspired by a section of Goethe’s Faust entitled “Walpurgis Night’s Dream.”[1] Fragments of this movement recur in the finale, as a precursor to the “cyclic” technique employed by later 19th-century composers. The entire work is also notable for its extended use of counterpoint, with the finale, in particular, beginning with an eight-part fugato.
The work is unbelievable. The counterpoint enviable. The sound reminds me of the Op. 13 quartet, which is sprightly in the same sort of way. This should be of no surprise, though, as both were written in the same period of his life. (When he was very young). If I could write the type of counterpoint he did when he was 16, I’d be a made composer. Enjoy the parts below the fold. Also, check out the Emerson quartet’s recording of the octet that they made by themselves through overlay:
Mendelssohn Octet Op. 20
- Mendelssohn Octet Score
- Mendelssohn Octet Manuscript
- Mendelssohn Octet Violin I
- Mendelssohn Octet Violin II
- Mendelssohn Octet Violin III
- Mendelssohn Octet Violin IV
- Mendelssohn Octet Viola I
- Mendelssohn Octet Viola II
- Mendelssohn Octet Cello I
- Mendelssohn Octet Cello II