Mendelssohn: String Quartet in D major, Op. 44, No. 1

I listened to Mendelssohn's String Quartet in D major (Op. 44, No. 1) a few times last month, and some melodies in the second movement sounded familiar to me.  Here's the first line:

(notation found here)

The first and second violin parts here bear strong resemblances to the hymn tune "Chesterfield" (used for "Hark the Glad Sound").  Last December, I recorded this tune for my blog about hymns:

The arrangements I used for my recording (I combined arrangements from Lutheran Worship [#29] and The Lutheran Service Book [#349]) are in F major, but here's the first phrase of "Chesterfield" transposed up an octave and into D major in order to compare it to the first few bars of the first violin in Mendelssohn's string quartet:

A few note values are different, but - with "Chesterfield" adjusted for key - the pitches are all the same.

Here's the second phrase of "Chesterfield" (again transposed to D major, but not transposed up an octave) and the second violin part from Mendelssohn's string quartet, starting from the sixth full measure:

These phrases are quite similar too.  The last five notes here have the same intervals; while they start from different pitches, the melody goes down a half-step, up a half-step, down a minor third, and then down a whole-step.

I couldn't find much information about Mendelssohn's string quartet, just that it was composed in 1838.  Likewise, I couldn't find a great degree of definite information about "Chesterfield."  Either it was written by or is attributed to Thomas Haweis, who was born in 1732 or 1734 (sources vary) and died in 1820.  According to Hymnary, the tune itself was published in 1792.  While all of that is a bit shaky, it's clear that "Chesterfield" is older than Mendelssohn's string quartet.

I don't know if Mendelssohn was familiar with "Chesterfield," but the resemblance between it and this movement of his string quartet seems to suggest so.  For what it's worth: this wouldn't be the only instance of Mendelssohn's using a hymn tune in his music.  His Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 107, written in 1830, quotes Martin Luther's "Ein feste Burg."

Mendelssohn: Concerto in A minor for piano and strings

For the last three days, I've listened to Mendelssohn's Concerto in A minor for my CMQ project (I was reading a Mendelssohn biography last February, which is why that piece was in the queue so much).  The first time I listened to it for the CMQ (which was only the second time I'd ever listened to it), I noticed a phrase in the strings near the beginning of the first movement (it's also near the end of the movement).  It took a few minutes to place, but I eventually remembered that Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" (Serenade No. 13 in G major K. 525) starts with a similar phrase.

I looked up the scores for both so I could compare them.  I had a bit of trouble with the Mendelssohn concerto in that the only notation I could find is apparently the original manuscript.  Mendelssohn wrote it when he was pretty young, and I don't think it was actually printed.  Because it was hand-written, there's a greater likelihood that I miscounted my measures.

In any case, when I looked up the notation and found the part I'd heard, I was surprised by how similar it is to Mozart's phrase.  While they're an octave lower, the first six pitches are the same, and the first five note values are the same.

(click the image to enlarge it)
(notation found here [Mozart's Serenade] and here [Mendelssohn's Concerto])

The middle line is my standardized rendering of the two violin parts in Mendelssohn's Concerto; at the beginning of that line, there are two treble clefs, and I'm assuming that it means that the two violin parts there are the same.  I was going to do the same for the viola and bass parts, but I had some difficulties with my program.  I found the original manuscript a bit difficult to read, but I think those other string parts match Mozart's too.

I went back and referenced the Mendelssohn biography I'd read (R. Larry Todd's Mendelssohn: A Life in Music) to see if I could find anything about this Mozart quotation.  Todd mentions Mendelssohn's being "thoroughly captivated" by Johann Hummel's A minor piano concerto and that Hummel was a student of Mozart, and he also says that Mendelssohn's concerto "marks an impressive achievement of an apprentice, who anticipated elements of his own mature style while he assimilated the legacy of Mozart's concerti and tested Hummel's innovations in piano technique."  There isn't anything there about that quotation of Mozart's serenade, but clearly Mozart was an influence.

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Op. 21

For the last two days, the classical piece I've listened to as part of my Classical Music Queue project has been Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream music.  I became curious about a particular phrase in the overture, so I looked up the notation and followed along when I listened to it yester-day.  What I heard wasn't what I thought, but in looking through the notation, I found something else that I found interesting.

The overture starts and ends with a four-note phrase in the flutes.  The second flute part in the opening is different, but the two flute parts at the end form progressively larger intervals.

(notation found here)

First, there's a third (E, G#), then a fourth (F#, B), a fifth (A, E), and finally a sixth (B, G#).

I don't have anything extra-musical to say about this; I just thought it was a really interesting feature.

Mendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue in G major, Op. 37, No. 2

I recently watched a Gresham College lecture titled The German Revolution in English Organ Technology.  Mendelssohn had a lot to do with some of the changes that were effected (he was "a catalyst... [who] open[ed] people’s ears to the possibilities of organs from abroad and a new way of building English organs"), and his Prelude and Fugue in G major, Op. 37, No. 2 was used as an example.  I'd heard this piece before, but listening to it then, I thought I noticed something, so I consulted the notation.

At the beginning of the fugue, there are pairs of half-steps:

(click the image to enlarge it)
(notation found here)

In the second measure of the pedal part, there's C to B and then F to E.  Bridging the fourth and fifth measures, there's G to F# and then C to B in the left-hand.

I'd thought I heard the B-A-C-H motif, which is also comprised of two descending half-steps (Bb to A and then C to B).  Obviously, this isn't the same, but it is similar.  Mendelssohn knew Bach's organ works, and the lecturer mentioned Bach's influence on Mendelssohn's own organ works, so I'm wondering if his inclusion of those descending half-step figures is an indication of that influence.  It'd certainly be a minuscule indication, but I still felt it worth noting, for myself if for nothing else.