2021.02

Nicolas De Troyer, The Organ as a Cornerstone in Mendelssohn’s Reception of Bach
Rarely has the reception history of a composer produced such extreme viewpoints as in the case of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847). During his lifetime he was one of the most prominent musical figures in Europe and enjoyed genuine star status. Mendelssohn’s fame was international: as a composer he was widely known far beyond his home country, and as a soloist and conductor he undertook numerous international concert tours, earning great acclaim. As director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, he also stood at the helm of one of Europe’s leading musical institutions.
In light of his dizzying career as conductor, composer, and concert pianist, his role as an organist has remained somewhat underexposed. Yet despite his gruelling schedule, he continued to seek out the organ throughout his life. Time and again he strove to refine his technique on the instrument as much as possible. That his compositions for organ represent a milestone is well known. At a time when high-quality organ music was particularly scarce, his organ works marked a turning point. Thanks to his international stature, these works became known in various countries—even in the United States—thus helping to stimulate broader interest in the instrument in general.
This article first situates Mendelssohn the organist within the framework of his era. Mendelssohn the composer, for his part, often looked back in his own oeuvre. He turned his gaze toward earlier stylistic periods and assimilated them into a newly forged and innovative artistic language—a quest for an ideal symbiosis between past and present. In this way he embodied the emerging historical consciousness of the 19th century.
Mendelssohn’s historicizing perspective—also in his organ works—was almost exclusively directed toward the oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach. His initiative to revive Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1829 is well known. But it goes much further: in all aspects of his artistic career, Mendelssohn brought Bach’s music into the spotlight. His lifelong affinity with the figure of J.S. Bach and the influence of this relationship on his organ works form the second major theme explored in this article.