Ralf Wehner

Ouvertüren 2

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy lived in the heyday of male singing. The composer had come into contact with the genre early on through his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter and the Berlin Liedertafel, which he founded in 1809. He had gained his own experience through the Leipzig Liedertafeln and was in contact with a large number of men's choral societies throughout his life. Nevertheless, his relationship to men's singing was marked not only by devotion, but also by critical distance. The festive music composed for male choir and orchestra that form the content of this volume are all commissioned works, two of which, the so-called 'Gutenberg Cantata' and the 'Festgesang an die Künstler' on a text by Friedrich Schiller, also appeared in print during Mendelssohn's lifetime.