1821: Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, age 12

Mr. Peabody Says:

This is the 4th, and although he was still 12 it was composed in September, so at this point he was closer to age 13. This 4th symphony is in C minor and is around eight and 1/2 minutes long. His most prominent teacher was Carl Friedrich Zelter, whose love of Bach was one of his greatest gifts.

Nicholas Ward/Northern Chamber Orchestra

  1. Grave – Allegro
  2. Andante – C major
  3. Allegro vivace

Felix Mendelssohn wrote thirteen string symphonies between 1821 and 1823, when he was between 12 and 14 years old. They were tributes to symphonies by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714), Joseph Haydn (1732), Johann Christian Bach (1735), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756).

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