Mendelssohn Weekend

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Mendelssohn Revealed

20090510

Tom Service, Louise Fryer and studio guests including writer and broadcaster Judith Chernaik and conductor Ben Parry reassess Mendelssohn's reputation and legacy 200 years after his birth, asking what lies behind our tendency to underrate him?

Conductors Riccardo Chailly and Christopher Hogwood give their thoughts about the composer and what his music means to them, and pianist Roberto Prosseda talks about the recently reconstructed third piano concerto which offers some insights into the compositional direction Mendelssohn might have taken were it not for his untimely death.

And Tom goes in search of the truth behind the recent stories about the composer's infatuation with the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, while the programme also hears from some of the 100 choirs around the UK singing Mendelssohn's O for the Wings of a Dove.

Tom Service, Louise Fryer and guests reassess Mendelssohn's reputation.

Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn, The Nazis And Me

20090509

Sheila Hayman, a descendant of Mendelssohn's sister Fanny, explores how Felix tried to reconcile his Christianity with his Jewish roots, tracing the events from his time to the emergence of the Third Reich.

She talks to conductor Kurt Masur, an Aryan boy in 1930s Berlin, forbidden to listen to Mendelssohn, and Claus Moser, a Jewish boy in Berlin at the same time, forbidden to listen to Beethoven and consoled by Mendelssohn. Steven Isserlis shows how Mendelssohn's own struggle between his two faiths can be heard in his music.

And Hayman's cousin Cecile, an adolescent in the Third Reich, talks for the first time of how it felt to be a 'Mischling', belonging neither with Jews nor Aryans, in a world where being a Mendelssohn had suddenly changed from a badge of pride to a source of shame, and even mortal danger.

Sheila Hayman on how Mendelssohn tried to reconcile his Christianity with his Jewish roots

Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn

Songs Without Words For The 21st Century

20090509

Radio 3's newly commissioned Songs Without Words from six contemporary composers.

Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn

Vintage Mendelssohn

20090509

Rob Cowan with classic recordings of Mendelssohn songs, plus orchestral and chamber music.

Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
Mendelssohn Revealed	20090510	Tom Service, Louise Fryer and studio guests including writer and broadcaster Judith Chernaik and conductor Ben Parry reassess Mendelssohn's reputation and legacy 200 years after his birth, asking what lies behind our tendency to underrate him? Conductors Riccardo Chailly and Christopher Hogwood give their thoughts about the composer and what his music means to them, and pianist Roberto Prosseda talks about the recently reconstructed third piano concerto which offers some insights into the compositional direction Mendelssohn might have taken were it not for his untimely death. And Tom goes in search of the truth behind the recent stories about the composer's infatuation with the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, while the programme also hears from some of the 100 choirs around the UK singing Mendelssohn's O for the Wings of a Dove. Tom Service, Louise Fryer and guests reassess Mendelssohn's reputation. Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn, The Nazis And Me	20090509	Sheila Hayman, a descendant of Mendelssohn's sister Fanny, explores how Felix tried to reconcile his Christianity with his Jewish roots, tracing the events from his time to the emergence of the Third Reich. She talks to conductor Kurt Masur, an Aryan boy in 1930s Berlin, forbidden to listen to Mendelssohn, and Claus Moser, a Jewish boy in Berlin at the same time, forbidden to listen to Beethoven and consoled by Mendelssohn. Steven Isserlis shows how Mendelssohn's own struggle between his two faiths can be heard in his music. And Hayman's cousin Cecile, an adolescent in the Third Reich, talks for the first time of how it felt to be a 'Mischling', belonging neither with Jews nor Aryans, in a world where being a Mendelssohn had suddenly changed from a badge of pride to a source of shame, and even mortal danger. Sheila Hayman on how Mendelssohn tried to reconcile his Christianity with his Jewish roots Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn
Songs Without Words For The 21st Century	20090509	Radio 3's newly commissioned Songs Without Words from six contemporary composers. Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn
Vintage Mendelssohn	20090509	Rob Cowan with classic recordings of Mendelssohn songs, plus orchestral and chamber music. Selection of programmes celebrating the life and music of Felix Mendelssohn