SYMPHONY No. 4 ("ITALIAN"): Op. 90
- Allegro vivace
- Andante con moto
- Con moto moderato
- Saltarello: Presto
This symphony was begun during Mendelssohn's sojourn in Italy (1830-31); it was finished in March, 1833. The following commentary by Ambros on the characteristics of the different movements is as sound and as interesting as any: "... That Italian clearness of outline, that cheerful, ingenuous enjoyment of abounding life without dream-like reflection, is a fundamental feature of the A major symphony. If it were not too hazardous, one might say ... [that] there sounds in Mendelssohn's symphony, not indeed the impression of Rome, ... where, according to Jean Paul's expression, the spirits of heroes, artists, and saints gaze on man, seriously admonishing him,—but rather the local tone of the environs of Monte Cavo in the adjacent Albanian chain of mountains. Indeed, we may readily imagine the youth Mendelssohn looking out, let us say, from Nemi or Genzano across the rounded mirror of the sea upon the splendid foliage of the wooded cliffs of the coast, and how the motive of the first movement, loudly exulting in the full joy of life, passes through his soul, so that he has to sing it aloud.
"The Andante [generally known as the 'Pilgrim's March'] has been thought by some to be in the church style. 'The cowl,' according to an old proverb, 'does not make the monk,' and just as little does a continuous contrapuntal bass make a piece of music into a contrapuntally conceived one. We might perhaps say more appropriately that the Andante tells a romance of the olden time, as it were, in the style of Chronicles—only the poet's eye occasionally betrays itself, sadly smiling. Being once in the Albanian mountains, with our fancy, perhaps we now recall the picturesque castle-embattlements of Grotta Ferrata, and the old devotional stations with the solemn mosaic pictures of saints upon a gold ground.
"In the [third movement] the person of the tone-poet advances more into the foreground: it is the purest feeling of well-being, of calm, happy enjoyment, that emanates from the gentle movement of this melody, as if reciting to itself Rückert's glorious words:
"'Die Erd' ist schön genug den Himmel zu erwarten,
Den Himmel zu vergessen nicht schön genug ihr Garten.'
["'The earth is fair enough to make us hope for heaven,
Her garden not so fair that heaven is lost to mind.']
"And these horns in the Trio,[111] are they not as if, in the midst of the Italian paradise, a truly German yearning comes over him for the dear light green of the woods of his home?
"But the Finale, the 'Saltarello,'[112] draws us into the midst of the gay swirl of Southern life; and the almost melancholy ritardando[113] towards the close, does it not remind us, like a sigh of the tone-poet, that amid all the magnificence he is, after all, but a stranger, a wanderer that comes and goes? Like Berlioz's 'Harold,' this symphony is therefore a souvenir of Italian travel, a piece of Italy that the tone-poet has brought away with him." [114]
Mendelssohn witnessed the Carnival at Rome, and this last movement was doubtless the result of his impressions, which he recorded in a letter written [from Rome] February 8, 1831: "On Saturday all the world went to the Capitol to witness the form of the Jews' supplications to be suffered to remain in the Sacred City for another year, a request which is refused at the foot of the hill, but, after repeated entreaties, granted on the summit, and the Ghetto is assigned to them. It was a tiresome affair; we waited two hours, and, after all, understood the oration of the Jews as little as the answer of the Christians. I came down again in very bad humor, and thought that the Carnival had begun rather unpropitiously. So I arrived in the Corso and was driving along, thinking no evil, when I was suddenly assailed by a shower of sugar comfits. I looked up; they had been flung by some young ladies whom I had seen occasionally at balls, but scarcely knew, and when, in my embarrassment, I took off my hat to bow to them, the pelting began in right earnest. Their carriage drove on, and in the next was Miss T——, a delicate young English-woman. I tried to bow to her, but she pelted me, too; so I became quite desperate, and, clutching the confetti, I flung them back bravely. There were swarms of my acquaintances, and my blue coat was soon as white as that of a miller. The B——s were standing on a balcony, flinging confetti like hail at my head; and thus pelting and pelted, amid a thousand jests and jeers and the most extravagant masks, the day ended with races."
FOOTNOTES:
[106] There is no general agreement as to the title of this overture. Mendelssohn himself referred to it as "The Hebrides," again as "The Solitary Island." The first published score was entitled "Fingal's Cave" (Die Fingals-Höhle), yet the parts for the players bore the title "The Hebrides" (Die Hebriden). It was called "The Isles of Fingal" when it was first performed in London (May 14, 1832).
[107] As it has been pointed out by others, the usual translation of this title, "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage," does violence to the significance of the German original. "Becalmed at Sea," or "Sea-Calm," conveys more faithfully the meaning of the first part of the title, and suggests the sharp and dramatic contrast intended by Goethe in his two poems.
[108] Some have said—erroneously, as it seems—that Mendelssohn's overture was suggested by the version of the legend made by Ludwig Tieck.
[109] Translated by Mr. John S. Dwight.
[110] Mendelssohn was a better musician than historian.
[111] "Trio": in a Minuet or Scherzo movement, a contrasting middle section of more tranquil character.
[112] "Saltarello": an Italian dance of marked rhythmical character. It has been described as "a duet dance of a skipping nature." "The woman always holds her apron, and performs graceful evolutions in the style of the Tarantella. The couple move in a semicircle, and the dance becomes faster and faster as it progresses, accompanied by many beautiful motions of the arms. This is a very ancient dance, and has quite a unique character: we find that it is especially performed by gardeners and vintners."
[113] "Ritardando": a gradual slowing of the tempo.
[114] From Die Grenzen der Poesie und Musik, translated by J. H. Cornell.