Mendelssohn’s Musical Museum
ON MARCH 11, 1829, a popular young musician named Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) stepped onto the podium to lead the Sing-Akademie of Berlin in a special anniversary performance of the St Matthew Passion, a choral masterpiece composed one hundred years earlier by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Here in the twenty-first century, Bach is a household name, and news of such an anniversary concert would be—for some of us, at least—a thing of great excitement. But in 1829, although a widespread interest in historical concert music had been simmering for several years, it is likely that most of the audience knew precious little about Bach or his music.
The Sing-Akademie’s new concert hall had opened just two years earlier, and, according to Larry Todd in Mendelssohn: A Life in Music, had soon become “a living musical museum.” For its young conductor, the March 11 performance was a great success. But Mendelssohn was also one of the first concert composers to spend his entire career facing widespread forces of maximalism, and little could he have known that in the promotion of dead composers he had almost single-handedly multiplied the competitive pressures facing those of his own day by fueling a new force with which they had to contend: HISTORICAL PRESSURE.
“Berlin Sing-Akademie,” Eduard Gaertner (1843).
MENDELSSOHN DID NOTHING WRONG in his promotion of historical concert music, but for those of us who are now exploring the connections between artistry and style, there could not have been a clearer sign that the times were a-changin’. Audiences were now happy to consume their music historically, an indication that concert composers were no longer constrained by the sort of functional demands which had governed composers in earlier centuries—indeed, the very constraints which had led composers like Bach to develop such a rich classical style in the first place! As the growing popularity of public concert halls provoked greater competitive pressure amongst living composers, and as a new market for piano arrangements and other sheet music further monetized the art, this new historical pressure played a significant role in shaping the maximalist artistry of living composers including (as we shall see) Mendelssohn himself.
This renewed interest in the music of the past had soon created what is sometimes called a MUSEUM CULTURE, in which living composers were all but condemned to a maximalist artistry. Slowly but surely, the almost impossible challenge of producing an instant musical masterpiece became the only “constraint” left.
Although the recording presented here captures only the first of many sections in the St Matthew Passion, it ably conveys the depth and power of Bach’s mature style. As a young composer who nonetheless may have felt pressured to produce works of equal stature, Mendelssohn himself seems to have been affected by the historical pressure which such music surely induced: according to several sources, his untimely death at the age of 38 was hastened by stress and overwork.
Have you or an artist you know ever felt overwhelmed by god-like champions of the past? Please share your stories in the comments. As About the Artist continues to grow, the website will function as a support group of sorts for artists (such as Elizabeth Gilbert) who have come to understand that to pursue a maximalist career may be simply too great a risk.
A very interesting article! I had never given much thought to how hard it is for composers to be known for their own works. I enjoy listening to music that has been passed down from the ages, like Bach, Copeland, Strauss, and Handel’s beautiful “Messiah.” I equally enjoy being introduced to new compositions by a composer.
Your well researched-articles for “About the Artist” continue to bring new awareness and insight to some of the challenges that an artist is up against in creating his works. My next visit to the symphony, I will have a deeper appreciation, not only for the compositon that I am listening to, but for all of the struggles and challenges that can come from a maximalist society, that go on behind the scenes. I wonder if these great composers of their time and of the present time, find any joy in their works? I would like to think that they do.
Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of “Eat, Pray, Love,’ which was a bestseller, had expressed her fear in writing her next book. Would it be as well received? Would it be bestseller material? Gilbert’s new book, ‘Committed,” is a continuation of her last book, “Eat, Pray, Love.’ She felt her book, “Eat, Pray, Love,” needed an ending after the main characters sailed away in the sunset together. I am sure that Gilbert’s setting up her own constraints of following through with the last book, of “Eat, Pray , Love,” made it much easier for her to write confidently and will most likely grant her another bestseller. Gilbert plans to write novels now, after writing, “Committed,” to give herself a break from the pressure of competing with her last book that was such a success. Where Mendelssohn felt he had to compete with Bach, Gilbert felt the pressure of competing with herself.
I am learning, from being an avid student of “About the Artist,” that when an artist becomes well known in his works, the pressure to keep performing at those high levels can be very overwhelming and stressful. I am just glad that they do not give up on their endeavors and continue to share their beautiful gifts with us to enjoy.
Thank you again for this very interesting article. I learned a lot!
I have a better understanding and a deeper appreciation of classical music done well.
Only seven years after Mendelssohn’s performance of the St Matthew Passion, Ralph Waldo Emerson penned the following lines to begin his famous essay Nature: “Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”
Interesting – I didn’t know that there was a phenomenon called the “Museum Culture.” I wonder if it pervaded society prior to the 19th century, and we just didn’t have a name for it. Obsession with, or at least, speculation about the past, often in the form of stories, is a pretty definitive characteristic of human societies.
I enjoyed reading your comment about Ralph Waldo Emerson. I am a great fan of the 19th century and dearly love the rich history that comes from the writings and essays of Emerson, Thoreau and other great writers of that time. It is interesting to hear that Emerson himself, is saying why not enjoy the present as much as the past. I also like Lisa’s comment which raises an excellent thought. One does wonder if other generations before the 19th century did “speculate” about the past. We can in present day society have access to arts and culture from many centuries ago. Our MFA is a wealth of information dating as far back as the early 15th century and earlier. Before the 19th century, I am assuming, it was more difficult to study the history before them. Information is so readily accessible with just the touch of our fingers today. Our forefathers of long ago did not have that luxury.
Thank you Lisa and Derek for the interesting comments.
I don’t usually comment but I gotta say appreciate it for the post on this one . :D