PETER MERCER TAYLOR

Peter Mercer-TaylorThe Companion to Mendelssohn, is written by leading scholars in the field. In fourteen chapters they explore the life, work, and reception of a composer-performer once thought uniquely untroubled in life and art alike, but who is now broadly understood as one of the nineteenth centurys most deeply problematic musical figures. The first section of the volume considers issues of biography, with chapters dedicated to Mendelssohns role in the emergence of Europes modern musical institutions, to the persistent tensions of his German-Jewish identity, and to his close but enigmatic relationship with his gifted older sister, Fanny. The following nine essays survey Mendelssohns expansive and multi-faceted musical output, marked as it was by successes in almost every contemporary musical genre outside of opera. The volumes two closing essays confront, in turn, the turbulent course of Mendelssohns posthumous reception and some of the challenges his music continues to pose for modern performers. Essays by leading scholars in the field of Mendelssohn studies Though thoroughly scholarly, the volume also provides sufficient background information to be of use to those relatively unfamiliar with Mendelssohn and his work Includes essays focusing on some of the most pressing issues confronting Mendelssohn scholarship