Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 7A

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64, has - like many of his other works - a lengthy genesis: the promise to write a large solo concerto in addition to a sonata for the Leipzig Gewandhaus concertmaster and friend Ferdinand David first appears in the surviving records in the summer of 1838. The composer's work on his opus lasted, however, with longer interruptions, until September 1844. This provisional conclusion is ultimately also due to the constant urging of the advised solo violinist. After the "official" handover of the score to David and a first joint rehearsal of the concerto in Leipzig, however, Mendelssohn's work on the score continued. An intensive correspondence with David subsequently developed between Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, where Mendelssohn was staying with his family, especially about questions concerning the principal part and the reworking of the solo cadenza. In March 1845, the then current version of the work was premiered at the subscription concert in Leipzig.

The version of Mendelssohn's first complete score transcription with the corrections contained therein, including all surviving drafts and sketches, is the subject of this volume; in addition, there is the epistolary evidence of the exchange with Ferdinand David in the run-up to the premiere. The further developments up to the printing of the main version of Opus 64 by Breitkopf & Härtel are dealt with in Series II, Volume 7 of the edition.