Cello Sonata No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Felix Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58 was composed in June 1843. The work, which was dedicated to the Russian/Polish cellist Count Mateusz Wielhorski, has four movements:

  1. Allegro assai vivace
  2. Allegretto scherzando
  3. Adagio
  4. Molto allegro e vivace

A typical performance lasts 25 minutes.

Of particular interest is the Adagio, because it mirrors Mendelssohn's fascination with the music of J. S. Bach. (He was then musical director of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipzig and, as such, Bach's distant successor.) The movement consists of a chorale in Bach's typical style, played by the piano in rich arpeggios. In between the phrases of the chorale, the cello plays recitative-like passages, which resemble the recitative of the Fantasia in the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 903, and quotes its final passage.[1]

Media

1st movement
Performed by John Michel

2nd movement

3rd movement

4th movement

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References

  1. Wolfgang Dinglinger: "Die Arpeggien sind ja eben der Haupteffect." Anmerkungen zum Adagio der zweiten Cellosonate op. 58 von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In: Cordula Heymann-Wentzel, Johannes Laas: Musik und Biographie: Festschrift für Rainer Cadenbach. Königshausen & Neumann, 2004, ISBN 382602804X, pp. 6568]

External links

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