Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 –
1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was
a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of
the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote
symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and
chamber music. His best-known works include his
Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the
overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and
his String Octet. His Songs With...(+)
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 –
1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was
a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of
the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote
symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and
chamber music. His best-known works include his
Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the
overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and
his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most
famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of
relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and
antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
his creative originality has been re-evaluated. He is
now among the most popular composers of the romantic
era.
Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and
revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach,
notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion
in 1829. He became well received in his travels
throughout Europe as a composer, conductor and soloist;
his ten visits to Britain – during which many of his
major works were premiered – form an important part
of his adult career. His essentially conservative
musical tastes set him apart from more adventurous
musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard
Wagner, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Hector Berlioz. The
Leipzig Conservatoire, which he founded, became a
bastion of this anti-radical outlook.
St. Paul (in German Paulus), Op. 36, is an oratorio by
Felix Mendelssohn. The composer oversaw versions and
performances in both German and English within months
of completing the music in early 1836. The libretto
"after words of holy scripture" was begun in 1832. The
composer with pastor Julius Schubring, a childhood
friend, compiled passages from the New Testament,
chiefly the Acts of the Apostles, and the Old, as well
as the texts of chorales and hymns, in a polyglot
manner after Bach's model. Composition of the music
started in 1834 and was complete in early 1836. The
work was premiered on 22 May 1836 (having been
completed in April of that year) at the Lower Rhenish
Music Festival in Düsseldorf. The English premiere was
in Liverpool on 3 October 1836 in a translation by
Mendelssohn's friend, Karl Klingermann. Contralto Mary
Shaw was one of the soloists at the English premiere.
The first performance in the United States was in
Boston on March 14, 1837. Mendelssohn himself conducted
the first performance in Leipzig in the Paulinerkirche
on 16 March 1837. Numerous performances followed in
Europe and in the United States.
"Dir, Herr, dir will ich mich ergeben" (To Thee, Lord,
to Thee will I surrender myself), is based on the ninth
verse of a hymn by Ludwig Rudolph von Senfft zu Pilsach
(1681-1715) entitled "Herr Gott, du kennest meine
Tage." Continuing the studies of Erich Reimer, the
author identifies the references in Mendelssohn's text,
which is made up of original biblical verses
interspersed with hymnal texts and other biblical
fragments. Mendelssohn interprets the fates of Jesus,
Stephanus, and the converted Paul in relation to each
other and describes the actions of Paul and the early
church within the context of a new beginning. The call
"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (nos. 1 and 16) as
well as the response "Dir, Herr, dir will ich mich
ergeben" are thus programmatically intertwined.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul_(oratorio)).
Although originally composed for Chorus (SATB), I
created this Interpretation of "Dir, Herr, dir will ich
mich ergeben" (To Thee, Lord, to Thee will I surrender
myself) from "Paulus" (St. Paul Op. 36 No. 9) for Organ
(2 Manuals w/o Pedals).
PARTITION