Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47), was one of the most extraordinary composers in the history of music. He was just midway between his sixteenth and seventeenth birthdays when he composed the Octet for strings. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher, Eduard Rietz, and the challenging first-violin part stands as a compliment to that musician’s abilities.
The string octet was in no way a classic chamber music genre. Louis Spohr had produced the first of his four “double quartets” in 1823, but despite their identical combination of instruments they adhere to a fundamentally different concept from Mendelssohn’s. Mendelssohn uses his eight instruments as a single ensemble capable of any interactive permutations.
In this regard, Mendelssohn’s Octet is quite closely related to the dozen string symphonies he had been composing during the preceding years, a connection underscored by the composer’s instruction on the published score: “This Octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character.”
Here are Janine Jansen and her friends to perform this music for you:
