{"id":8192,"date":"2022-03-04T12:42:53","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T18:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/?post_type=dso_prod_season&#038;p=8192"},"modified":"2023-03-02T14:13:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:13:13","slug":"mendelssohns-lobgesang","status":"publish","type":"dso_prod_season","link":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/productions\/mendelssohns-lobgesang\/","title":{"rendered":"Cantata sinf\u00f3nica\" de Mendelssohn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"richtext m-spacer\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-10\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#e5e5e5\"><strong>THURSDAY 3\/2\/23 PERFORMANCE CANCELLED<\/strong><br>Due to tonight&#8217;s inclement weather, we are very sorry to announce the cancellation of our Thursday performance. Ticketholders may contact us at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:customerservice@dalsym.com\">customerservice@dalsym.com<\/a>\u00a0to exchange or donate their tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PAUL MCCREESH <\/strong>conducts<br><strong>SUSANNA PHILLIPS<\/strong> soprano<br><strong>SARI GRUBER <\/strong>soprano<br><strong>NICHOLAS PHAN<\/strong> tenor<br><strong>DALLAS SYMPHONY CHORUS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PARRY<\/strong> <em>Blest Pair of Sirens<\/em><br><strong>MENDELSSOHN<\/strong> Lobgesang (A Symphony Cantata)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul McCreesh joins the DSO to conduct a grand spiritual concert including vocal soloists, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Lay Family Organ. Also known as his Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn described the work as a \u201csymphonic cantata.\u201d Bearing a superficial similarity to Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony, it begins with three instrumental movements although on a much smaller scale and closes with a cantata-like structure for chorus, solo voices and orchestra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Blest Pair of Sirens <\/em>is a short work for choir and orchestra by English composer Hubert Parry, who was commissioned to compose a piece for the Bach Choir of London to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Glories of our Blood and State was to be used, but subsequently scrapped possibly due to lines including \u201cSceptre and crown must tumble down\u201d not being the most suitable for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parry then decided to set Milton\u2019s <em>At a Solemn Music<\/em> garnering immediate success and eventually being recognized as an outstanding English choral work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-program-features-the-lay-family-concert-organ\">Program features the Lay Family Concert Organ.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#e5e5e5\">NOTE: This performance will be performed without intermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>MORTON H. MEYERSON SYMPHONY CENTER<\/strong><br>2301 Flora St.<br>Dallas, TX 75201<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_-1024x166.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5688\" width=\"256\" height=\"42\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_-1024x166.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_-300x48.png 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_-768x124.png 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_-16x3.png 16w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TI.Classical.black_.png 1528w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n    <div class=\"row\">\n        <div class=\"col-10\">\n            <div class=\"share d-flex align-items-center\">\n                <p class=\"mb-0 serif__light-16\">SHARE<\/p><div data-network=\"facebook\" class=\"st-custom-button facebook\" data-title=&quot;Mendelssohn&#8217;s \u201cA Symphony Cantata&#8221;&quot;  data-description=&quot;Paul McCreesh joins the DSO to conduct a grand spiritual concert including vocal soloists, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Lay Family Organ. Also known as his Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn described the work as a \u201csymphonic cantata.\u201d Bearing a superficial similarity to Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony, it begins with three instrumental movements although on a much smaller scale and closes with a cantata-like structure for chorus, solo voices and orchestra.&quot;  data-message=&quot;Paul McCreesh joins the DSO to conduct a grand spiritual concert including vocal soloists, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Lay Family Organ. Also known as his Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn described the work as a \u201csymphonic cantata.\u201d Bearing a superficial similarity to Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony, it begins with three instrumental movements although on a much smaller scale and closes with a cantata-like structure for chorus, solo voices and orchestra.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/productions\/mendelssohns-lobgesang\/&quot; >Facebook<span class=\"count\"><\/span><\/div>            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"edp-musician-grid m-spacer grad-to-right\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<h1><\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<h2><\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6\">\n\t<div class=\"edp__musician-card\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-262x262.jpg\" class=\"attachment-262x262 size-262x262 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-262x262.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-12x12.jpg 12w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1-445x445.jpg 445w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Paul-McCreesh-1000x1000-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/>\t\t<div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<h4>Paul McCreesh<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t<p>Conductor<\/p>\n\n                            <a class=\"a-hover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/people\/paul-mccreesh\/\">Read More<\/a>\n            \t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"col-lg-6\">\n\t<div class=\"edp__musician-card\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-262x262.jpg\" class=\"attachment-262x262 size-262x262 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Susanna Phillips\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-262x262.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-12x12.jpg 12w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1-445x445.jpg 445w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Susanna-Phillips-1200x1200-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/>\t\t<div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<h4>Susanna Phillips<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t<p>Soprano<\/p>\n\n                            <a class=\"a-hover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/people\/susanna-phillips\/\">Read More<\/a>\n            \t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"col-lg-6\">\n\t<div class=\"edp__musician-card\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-262x262.jpg\" class=\"attachment-262x262 size-262x262 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sari Gruber\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-262x262.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-12x12.jpg 12w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5-445x445.jpg 445w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2223-People-1200x1200-5.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/>\t\t<div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<h4>Sari Gruber<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t<p>Soprano<\/p>\n\n                            <a class=\"a-hover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/people\/sari-gruber\/\">Read More<\/a>\n            \t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"col-lg-6\">\n\t<div class=\"edp__musician-card\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-262x262.jpg\" class=\"attachment-262x262 size-262x262 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Nicholas Phan\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-262x262.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-12x12.jpg 12w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan-445x445.jpg 445w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Nicholas-Phan.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/>\t\t<div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<h4>Nicholas Phan<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t<p>Tenor<\/p>\n\n                            <a class=\"a-hover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/people\/nicholas-phan\/\">Read More<\/a>\n            \t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"col-lg-6\">\n\t<div class=\"edp__musician-card\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-262x262.png\" class=\"attachment-262x262 size-262x262 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-262x262.png 262w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-12x12.png 12w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-350x350.png 350w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus-445x445.png 445w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Chorus.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/>\t\t<div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<h4>Dallas Symphony Chorus<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t<p>Chorus<\/p>\n\n                            <a class=\"a-hover\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/people\/ds-chorus\/\">Read More<\/a>\n            \t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" id=\"program\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"dso__accordion m-spacer\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"row\">\n            <div class=\"col-lg-12\">\n                <div class=\"accordion__intro-wrapper\">\n                    <h1>Program Notes<\/h1>\n                    <p>By Ren\u00e9 Spencer Saller<\/p>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-10 offset-md-1\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion\" id=\"accordion-d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"card\">\n\t<button id=\"heading9169a6bc6b8db96814153bcc3bf96fa3\" class=\"dso__accordion-toggle\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse9169a6bc6b8db96814153bcc3bf96fa3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse9169a6bc6b8db96814153bcc3bf96fa3\">\n\t\tCharles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848\u20131918): Blest pair of Sirens\t\t<span class=\"plus-sign\">\n            <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"25\" height=\"25\" viewbox=\"0 0 25 25\">\n                <g transform=\"translate(211.054 -145.186) rotate(135)\"><rect width=\"25\" height=\"3\" transform=\"translate(242.001 36.678) rotate(-45)\"\/><rect width=\"25\" height=\"3\" transform=\"translate(244.12 19) rotate(45)\"\/><\/g>\n            <\/svg>\n        <\/span>\n\t<\/button>\n\n\t<div id=\"collapse9169a6bc6b8db96814153bcc3bf96fa3\" class=\"collapse\" aria-labelledby=\"heading9169a6bc6b8db96814153bcc3bf96fa3\" data-parent=\"#accordion-d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e\">\n\t\t<div class=\"card-body\">\n\t\t\t<p>As a student at Eton, Parry studied composition and counterpoint with George Elvey, the organist of St. George&#8217;s Chapel, at Windsor. Although he distinguished himself in music, greatly impressing the Oxford Professor of Music Sir Frederick Ouseley with his examination cantata, he took the more conventional path instead: at Oxford he read law and modern history in preparation for a business career, studying music, his true love, on the side. <\/p>\n<p>Despite his early triumph with the aforementioned cantata, which was performed and published to some acclaim, Parry got a relatively late start as a composer. He began producing his major works in 1880, when he was 32 and still unhappily employed as an insurance underwriter at Lloyd\u2019s of London. In the 1870s he started contributing to George&#8217;s Grove&#8217;s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. (As it happens, Grove, a friend as well as colleague, suggested the John Milton ode that Parry used as a subject for his breakthrough choral composition, Blest pair of Sirens.) In addition to his entries for Grove\u2019s Dictionary, Parry wrote music-history books, including a study of J.S. Bach that was published in 1909. <\/p>\n<p>Beginning in 1882, Parry taught at the Royal College of Music in London, becoming director in 1894. Among his more famous pupils were Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge, and John Ireland. Parry was knighted in 1898 and made a baronet four years later. He died at age 70 after contracting Spanish flu in the global pandemic of 1918.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blessed Breakthrough<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 1887 the Anglo-Irish composer and conductor Charles Villiers Stanford, Parry\u2019s colleague at the Royal College of Music, commissioned Parry to write a new piece for the Bach Choir of London in honor of Queen Victoria\u2019s Golden Jubilee. Although Parry was still largely unknown, at least by the greater public, Stanford, one of his earliest supporters, considered him the greatest English composer since Purcell. The commission, Stanford\u2019s first, yielded Blest pair of Sirens, Parry\u2019s setting of a 1645 ode by John Milton, \u201cAt a Solemn Musick.\u201d It would be Parry\u2019s first major choral work\u2014and his critical and commercial breakthrough. Since its 1887 premiere, it has remained a staple of the British choral repertoire.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that Milton, an outspoken anti-monarchist, supported Cromwell in the English Civil War and was arrested, imprisoned, and heavily fined for his revolutionary political tracts, Blest pair of Sirens delighted the many royalists at its premiere, in London\u2019s St. James\u2019s Hall: Parry proudly reported that it was received \u201cquite uproariously.\u201d More recently, Blest pair of Sirens was performed at the 2011 wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Prince and Princess of Wales. <\/p>\n<p>The two sirens referenced in the title refer to those &#8220;sphere-born harmonious sisters, voice and verse,&#8221; whom Milton entreats to &#8220;wed their divine sounds, and mix&#8217;d power employ.&#8221; Scored for orchestra and chorus, \u201cBlest pair of Sirens\u201d consists of one very long (but entirely grammatical) sentence, which takes up all but the last four lines, a concluding exhortation: <\/p>\n<p>O may we soon again renew that song,<br \/>\nAnd keep in tune with heaven, till God ere long<br \/>\nTo his celestial concert us unite,<br \/>\nTo live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light!<\/p>\n<p>Despite their brevity on the page, those final four lines bear a significant part of the ode\u2019s rhetorical burden, and Parry lingers over them accordingly: from a total of 256 measures, he allots them nearly 100. Milton\u2019s poem describes the speaker\u2019s impassioned response to sacred music, a divine taste of what he expects to hear in the afterlife. Parry\u2019s setting, with its eight-part counterpoint and intricately interwoven lines, brings the poem back to its inspiration: Baroque sacred music. But Parry\u2019s music also draws on Wagnerian \u201cendless melody\u201d and Brahmsian harmonies, lending a peculiar timelessness to the composition. Suspended in the sweet spot between ecstasy and awe, Blest pair of Sirens transforms experience into epiphany.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"card\">\n\t<button id=\"heading6ae8bf8bf277f4c6f8348f2a72fee90e\" class=\"dso__accordion-toggle\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse6ae8bf8bf277f4c6f8348f2a72fee90e\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse6ae8bf8bf277f4c6f8348f2a72fee90e\">\n\t\tFelix Mendelssohn (1809\u20131847): Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 52a\t\t<span class=\"plus-sign\">\n            <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"25\" height=\"25\" viewbox=\"0 0 25 25\">\n                <g transform=\"translate(211.054 -145.186) rotate(135)\"><rect width=\"25\" height=\"3\" transform=\"translate(242.001 36.678) rotate(-45)\"\/><rect width=\"25\" height=\"3\" transform=\"translate(244.12 19) rotate(45)\"\/><\/g>\n            <\/svg>\n        <\/span>\n\t<\/button>\n\n\t<div id=\"collapse6ae8bf8bf277f4c6f8348f2a72fee90e\" class=\"collapse\" aria-labelledby=\"heading6ae8bf8bf277f4c6f8348f2a72fee90e\" data-parent=\"#accordion-d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e\">\n\t\t<div class=\"card-body\">\n\t\t\t<p>Mendelssohn made the most of his brief charmed life. His wealthy parents ensured that he had the finest possible education, and they turned their Berlin mansion into a concert hall twice a month, promoting their young son as a musical prodigy. When he was 12 years old, he met the elderly Goethe, who rhapsodized about the boy&#8217;s genius: \u201cWhat [Mendelssohn] already accomplishes bears the same relation to the Mozart of that time that the cultivated talk of a grown-up person bears to the prattle of a child.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Before Mendelssohn was out of his teens, he had completed approximately 100 compositions, including operas, quartets, concertos, and a magnificent octet for strings. By age 20 he had written his famous overture after Shakespeare\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream and conducted Bach\u2019s St. Matthew Passion to rave reviews. He visited the United Kingdom on several occasions and greatly impressed Queen Victoria and her spouse, Prince Albert. The royal couple, both quite musical, invited Mendelssohn to play for them on numerous occasions; he even accompanied the Queen while she sang some of his and his sister Fanny\u2019s songs at Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n<p>Mendelssohn, Jewish at birth, converted to Lutheranism in early childhood, along with the rest of his immediate family (Felix and his siblings in 1816, their father six years later). Around the same time, the family added the Protestant-sounding surname Bartholdy to their original last name; Felix\u2019s uncle Jakob Salomon, his mother\u2019s brother, had adopted that name some years earlier, upon his own conversion to Christianity. Although the Mendelssohn family almost certainly would have stayed Jewish in a less oppressively anti-Semitic environment, the composer fully embraced his new religion and remained a devout Lutheran all his life.<\/p>\n<p>In 1840, when Mendelssohn wrote his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, he was routinely working himself to exhaustion. Since his appointment five years earlier as the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he had successfully transformed the ensemble into one of the finest in Germany, arguably the world, and he constantly strove to improve. A groundbreaking music director and maestro, he was one of the first conductors to lead an orchestra with a baton, and many of his programming practices\u2014such as mixing familiar repertoire with newer, more challenging fare\u2014are now the norm in concert culture. During this time Mendelssohn was also laying the groundwork for the conservatory that he would help found in 1843. <\/p>\n<p>Happily married since 1837 to C\u00e9cile Jeanrenaud, a beautiful clergyman\u2019s daughter, Mendelssohn adored his young wife and their growing family. (The decade-long marriage produced five children.) But the composer\u2019s hyperactive work schedule, combined with his exacting standards and superhuman ambition, surely contributed to his early death. When his beloved sister, esteemed colleague, and lifelong confidante Fanny died of a stroke in 1846, Mendelssohn reportedly shrieked and fainted, rupturing a blood vessel in his brain. Although he lived for another year, he was in severe physical and emotional pain until he succumbed to the family malady at 38.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In Praise of Print<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 1840 dozens of festivities took place across Germany to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gutenberg moveable-type press. Leipzig enjoyed special prominence as a publishing center, and an elaborate three-day music festival was staged for that June featuring, among other events, two new major works composed and conducted by Mendelssohn: the monumental Festgesang, sometimes called the \u201cGutenberg Cantata,\u201d scored for a 200-voice male chorus and two enormous brass bands; and a \u201csymphony-cantata\u201d scored for orchestra, chorus, three solo singers (a tenor and two sopranos, or tenor, soprano, and mezzo-soprano), and organ. <\/p>\n<p>The Leipzig-based music publisher Breitkopf &#038; H\u00e4rtel prefaced the score for the symphony-cantata with a quotation by Martin Luther: \u201cRather I wished to see all the arts, especially music, serving Him who gave and created them.\u201d Below the Luther quotation was a title that reinforced its devotional purpose: \u201cLobgesang\/Eine Symphonie-Cantate\/nach Worten der heiligen Schrift, componiert\/von Felix Mendelssohn-\/Bartholdy\u201d (Hymn of Praise\/A Symphony-Cantata\/ after Words of the Holy Scripture, composed\/by Felix Mendelssohn-\/Bartholdy). The connection between print and the Bible would have seemed obvious to Mendelssohn and his fellow Lutherans: Gutenberg\u2019s first significant publication on his new press, the text that would ensure his fame hundreds of  years later, was a German-language edition of the Bible, based on Martin Luther\u2019s own translations of the scriptures.   <\/p>\n<p>Mendelssohn\u2019s hybrid genre, the \u201csymphony-cantata,\u201d provoked comparisons to Beethoven\u2019s iconic Ninth Symphony, which had debuted only 16 years earlier. Although the similarities between the two works are obvious enough, they are also fairly superficial. In the Ninth Beethoven waits until his climactic finale to unleash the chorus and its ecstatic \u201cFreude\u201d juggernaut. Mendelssohn, like his esteemed predecessor, starts his symphony with three purely orchestral movements, but what follows is a lengthy cantata, not a single-movement choral finale. The cantata alone consists of 10 or so numbers, depending on how you count them. Combined, the symphony and cantata are nearly twice as long as any of Mendelssohn&#8217;s purely instrumental symphonies.<\/p>\n<p>Along with the inevitable Beethoven comparisons, Lobgesang garnered positive reviews, most notably from Mendelssohn\u2019s friend and colleague, the composer-critic Robert Schumann, who attended the premiere and reported that \u201cthe work was enthusiastically received, and its choral numbers especially must be counted among the master\u2019s freshest and most delightful creations; and what this praise means, after his great achievements, will be understood by everyone who has followed the evolution of his compositions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Brief Note on Nomenclature<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mendelssohn\u2019s symphonies are numbered according to their date of publication, not composition. Although only the second to be published, Symphony No. 2 was the second to last symphony that Mendelssohn composed. He died seven years later, after suffering a series of strokes. After his death, the Lobgesang Symphony-Cantata was republished, this time as Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, a designation that the composer never sanctioned, insofar as he never considered it a symphony, strictly speaking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Closer Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The opening instrumental movements are played attaca, a feature distinguishing the work from its Beethovenian model, as Schumann noted in his review: \u201c[T]he three orchestral movements proceed without any pause between them\u2014an innovation in the symphonic form. No better form could have been selected for this special purpose.\u201d<br \/>\nThe first movement (Maestoso con moto \u2013 Allegro) begins with a bracing theme from the trombones, which will recur in subsequent movements, eventually serving as the melody for the words from Psalm 150 that open the cantata portion of the symphony: \u201cAlles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn\u201d (Everything that has breath, praise the Lord). This fanfare-like ascending motif is flexible enough to convey both effort and euphoria: a kind of relentless joy. When Mendelssohn conducted the work in D\u00fcsseldorf in 1842, the audience erupted into spontaneous applause as soon as the trombones reprised the theme, right before the entrance of the chorus, and Mendelssohn had to start that section over from the top. <\/p>\n<p>After the spellbound second movement, a fleet minuet and trio marked Allegretto un poco agitato, the Adagio religioso conjures up the calm before the storm: the joyous onslaught that is the opening of the cantata. In addition to the three solo singers, the chorus is divided and subdivided into various groupings, which both support the soloists and function as distinctive voices, albeit of a collective identity. Among the many highlights of the cantata section is \u201cI waited for the Lord,\u201d an exquisite duet for sopranos and chorus. Graced by a lambent horn, intertwined melodies, and thrilling close harmonies, the song became famous as a standalone piece later in the century. According to Schumann, people at the premiere responded to the duet right away. \u201cThere broke forth in the audience a whispering which counts for more in the church than loud applause in the concert-hall,\u201d he reported in his review. \u201cIt was like a glimpse into a heaven of Raphael\u2019s madonnas\u2019 eyes.\u201d<br \/>\nLess celebrated but equally outstanding is the tenor\u2019s aria \u201cThe sorrows of death,\u201d an anguished, ardent cri de coeur that contrasts perfectly with the contrapuntal choral majesty of \u201cThe night is past,\u201d which begins with the soprano soloist\u2019s unassailable declaration of same. (Lighten up for the Enlightenment, you might say.) The remaining three numbers sustain this mood of exalted service and enlightened devotion to the Lord. The hymn that powers the chorale, \u201cNow Thank We All Our God,\u201d was a particular favorite of Mendelssohn\u2019s. The brief coda resurrects the opening motif, the mother lode of all that follows. First sung by the trombones, then by the chorus and remaining instruments, the \u201cpraise\u201d theme brings the symphony-cantata full circle.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n    <div class=\"featured-concerts grad-to-left m-spacer\">\n        <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n            <div class=\"row\">\n                <div class=\"col-md-7 col-7 offset-md-1\">\n                    <h1 class=\"serif__elight-58-italic\">You may also be interested in<\/h1>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"col-md-4 col-5\">\n                    <div class=\"controls__wrapper\">\n                        <div class=\"slideshow__controls d-none d-lg-block\">\n                            <button class=\"controls__prev\"  data-button-id=\"21a9c0eb74400bcaada89362786339f7\">\n                                <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 24 24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" width=\"24\">\n                                    <g><rect fill=\"none\" height=\"24\" width=\"24\"\/><path d=\"M12,4c4.41,0,8,3.59,8,8s-3.59,8-8,8s-8-3.59-8-8S7.59,4,12,4 M12,2C6.48,2,2,6.48,2,12c0,5.52,4.48,10,10,10 c5.52,0,10-4.48,10-10C22,6.48,17.52,2,12,2L12,2z M13,12l0-4h-2l0,4H8l4,4l4-4H13z\"\/><\/g>\n                                <\/svg>\n                            <\/button>\n                            <button class=\"controls__next\" data-button-id=\"21a9c0eb74400bcaada89362786339f7\">\n                                <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 24 24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" width=\"24\">\n                                    <g><rect fill=\"none\" height=\"24\" width=\"24\"\/><path d=\"M12,4c4.41,0,8,3.59,8,8s-3.59,8-8,8s-8-3.59-8-8S7.59,4,12,4 M12,2C6.48,2,2,6.48,2,12c0,5.52,4.48,10,10,10 c5.52,0,10-4.48,10-10C22,6.48,17.52,2,12,2L12,2z M13,12l0-4h-2l0,4H8l4,4l4-4H13z\"\/><\/g>\n                                <\/svg>\n                            <\/button>\n                        <\/div>\n\n\t                                        <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"row\">\n                <div class=\"col-md-11 offset-md-1\">\n                    <div class=\"slideshow\">\n                        <div class=\"dso__slides\" data-button-id=\"21a9c0eb74400bcaada89362786339f7\">\n                            <div class=\"concert__card\" style=\"margin-right: 15px\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/productions\/beethoven-and-brahms\/\">\n        <div class=\"img__wrapper\">\n\t        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"388\" height=\"218\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-388x218.jpg\" class=\"attachment-388x218 size-388x218 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Fabio Luisi\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-388x218.jpg 388w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-18x10.jpg 18w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-540x303.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-666x375.jpg 666w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3-735x413.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CLA18_v3.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/>        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"content__wrapper\">\n            <h4 class=\"serif__light-22\">\n                Beethoven and Brahms            <\/h4>\n            <p class=\"serif__light-16-italic\">mayo 4 &#8211; 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Tambi\u00e9n conocida como su Sinfon\u00eda n\u00ba 2, Mendelssohn describi\u00f3 la obra como una \"cantata sinf\u00f3nica\". Con una similitud superficial con la Novena Sinfon\u00eda de Beethoven, comienza con tres movimientos instrumentales aunque a una escala mucho menor y se cierra con una estructura tipo cantata para coro, voces solistas y orquesta.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":8096,"template":"","dso_concert_series":[31],"class_list":["post-8192","dso_prod_season","type-dso_prod_season","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","dso_concert_series-classical"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dso_prod_season\/8192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dso_prod_season"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/dso_prod_season"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dso_prod_season\/8192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"dso_concert_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dallassymphony.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dso_concert_series?post=8192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}