20007 Overture to Paulus

F. Mendelssohn (1756 - 1791)

arranged by Roger Harvey

Difficulty: Hard

Price: £35.00

Programme note:
Paulus, an oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was first performed in 1836 at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf. The libretto was a collaboration by Mendelssohn and Pastor Julius Schubring and uses passages from the New and Old Testaments. It makes use of chorales in the style of J. S. Bach who Mendelssohn much admired and championed.
Although St Paul was very popular during Mendelssohn's lifetime, it dropped from favour and is now infrequently performed.

The Overture is a sort of chorale prelude based on Wachet Auf, (Sleepers Wake). It begins solemnly with a simple chordal version of the theme. The following Allegro is fugal and is unsettled in mood. Eventually the minor key is replaced by a coda in the major mode giving a more triumphal feeling.

Performance note:
The introduction needs to be very cantabile and gently played. Interpretation of Andante in performances varies widely (from Œ=60ish to Ó=60ish) but as technical problems would occur if the Allegro is too fast it is suggested that a slow tempo is taken for the introduction. The hairpins suggest phrasing rather than anything dramatic.
Throughout the Allegro section aim for a lightness of touch in the semiquaver runs, especially in the lower instruments. The fugal theme can be a little more firmly defined and shaped. Although much of the piece is at loud dynamic markings, attempt to feel that there is a very gradual progression from the rather mysterious beginning of the Allegro to the majestic coda. Grade the dynamics so that it does not peak too early or for too long. It should feel gradully more and more energetic but not frantic or forced.