Felix Mendelssohn began the composition of his Octet, the first indisputable masterpiece of his artistic maturity, in the autumn of 1825. The work was completed on October 15, 1825, two days before the composer presented the autograph score as a birthday present to his violin teacher, Eduard Rietz.
Rietz returned his student’s compliment by copying out instrumental parts by hand which were used in the work’s first performance. From contemporary accounts of those in attendance at that performance, the Octet apparently delighted and amazed its audience, a reaction that this work has been evoking ever since.
Mendelssohn’s personal views conformed ideally to the musical tastes of the era, which were moving from a “Classical” style (that of Mozart, Haydn, etc.) to a more “Romantic” one (espoused by Beethoven, and later by Brahms, Mahler, etc.). The composer did, however, introduce a particular element into the musical language of his time, the evocation of an enchanted, ethereal world of fairies and other benevolent spirits, the inspiration for which likely derived from his reading of the works of William Shakespeare, as well as of German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), with whom Mendelssohn was personally acquainted.
Here is the excellent violinist, Janine Jansen with her friends to let you hear this amazing masterpiece:
