Tuesday marks the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn's birth. Celebrations and concerts will take place honoring his music - do you have a favorite work or performance? Let us know in the comments.One of my all time favorite pieces to hear and play of Mendelssohn is his youthful Octet for Strings. You can hear it Tuesday afternoon on KPAC and KTXI.
I remember one performance in Wichita, KS years ago with the Pro Arte Quartet and the Fairmount String Quartet...the performance was musical and quite brisk, but marred in the cute and concise Scherzo by a chirping cricket in the hall. After the finale, an astute audience member killed the offending cricket that had been lurking near the exit. The audience on its feet and shouting for an encore got to hear the scherzo again, this time without the chirping - "senza cicada".
Musicians and those curious to see the actual music of Mendelssohn can visit the IMSLP/Petrucci Library online - it's completely free.
This is another great link to everything Mendelssohn, FelixMendelssohn.com.
Finally, I thought I'd share a youthful memory of mine about Mendelssohn - actually at the time my violin teacher was learning Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto herself - the Hooked on Classics version of Mendelssohn!
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