THE MENDELSSOHNS

Dramaturgy and verse by Richard Piper
Incidental music by Bryony Marks

FLINDERS QUARTET
Elizabeth Sellars • violin
Wilma Smith • violin
Helen Ireland • viola
Zoe Knighton • cello

AGATHA YIM, POLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing
THOMAS GRUBB, MANO MUSICA sound engineering, editing and mastering

Filmed October 2024 in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Wurundjeri Country/Southbank

This project was made possible through support from Creative Victoria, City of Melbourne, The Ian Potter Foundation, and FQ’s Fifth String donors

We performed Fanny Mendelssohn’s sole string quartet for the first time in 2021 and became fascinated by her career as a composer which, during her lifetime, was superseded by her role as sister, wife, mother and daughter. Since Marcia Citron published her seminal collection of Mendlessohn’s letters in 1987, Fanny’s story has garnered significant attention and perhaps you even saw the recent film by her great-great-great granddaughter, Sheila Hayman, called “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn”.

The story of Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) and Felix Mendlessohn (1809-1847) has many complexities, and almost as many layers as the music they inspired each other to write. Whereas Felix wrote over 700 compositions, including four orchestral symphonies, concerti, six string quartets, piano trios, sonatas and large scale choral works, Fanny wrote one string quartet and one piano trio, with her main output being a vast collection of lieder.

In their youth, Fanny was the dominant sibling. She educated Felix, nurtured him and encouraged him. He sought her musical counsel and she was more than equipped to act as his musical mentor. She wasn’t shy about her opinions in her youth but this confidence was replaced by a desire to please those around her as she grew older, which is painfully obvious in one letter to Felix:

“I’m afraid of my brothers at age 40, as I was of Father at age 14 - or, more aptly expressed, desirous of pleasing you and everyone I’ve loved throughout my life.”

Her love and devotion to Felix shifted once she married Wilhelm Hensel. After their marriage, he encouraged her to host soirees in their home which enabled her to perform her own works to friends and family. It is most probably in one of these soirees that her quartet was performed for the first time. It was also Wilhelm who persuaded her to agree to publishing some of her lieder with Bote & Bock; although it is worth noting that this did not come with any form of payment.

This performance is a little different to most. We play movements of Felix and Fanny’s music interspersed with incidental music specially composed by Bryony Marks, which underscores the narrative constructed by Richard Piper. Richard has written a 21st century narration to this 19th century familial drama, in verse, to be spoken by the quartet.

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet Op. 81 No. 3
Capriccio Andante con moto - Allegro fugato, assai vivace
Felix’s Op. 81 comprises four short pieces composed throughout his life and compiled after his death. It sets the scene for a tumultuous tale of love, familial pecking orders, and opportunities lost. A thoroughly romantic barcarolle precedes a fugue of great fervour.

Fanny Mendelssohn String Quartet in E-flat major
I. Adagio ma non troppo
The first movement of Fanny’s string quartet enters with a yearning. Phrases interrupted by commas wind their way around a sense of resignation. The longer phrases of sublime counterpoint showcase her expertise in the quartet idiom, woven around a climax that seems to exude frustration.

Bryony Marks “The Mendelssohns”
Chapter 1

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6, Op. 80
I. Allegro vivace assai
The desperation in the opening movement of Felix’s Op. 80 string quartet is fuelled by brutally fast semiquavers. The frustration, anger and hurt that Mendelssohn must have been feeling as he grappled with the death of Fanny is painfully obvious. Choosing the same key as Beethoven’s Op. 95 “Serioso” quartet (F minor), this first movement is unrelenting in its angst with even the lyrical passages having a sense of unease.

Bryony Marks “The Mendelssohns”
Chapter 2

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6, Op. 80
III. Adagio
The best word to describe this movement is a lament. There is more than melancholy at play here - it is a deeply felt sadness and perhaps even remorse. The introductory bar by the cello returns a number of times as if introducing different memories.

Bryony Marks “The Mendelssohns”
Chapter 3

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6, Op. 80
II. Allegro assai
This ‘scherzo’ is not a typical Mendelssohnian scherzo like that in his “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” incidental music as he became famous for: it is full of terror, with jarring syncopations which are almost demonic in their intentions. The trio brings little respite with an intimidating unison bass line played by the cello and viola underneath the ghostly violin melody.

Bryony Marks “The Mendelssohns”
Chapter 4

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6, Op. 80
IV. Allegro molto
Tremulous and foreboding, the rumbling tremolo of the cello sets the scene for a catastrophic end to the string quartet and life. Without Fanny, it seems life was not worth living.

Fanny Mendelssohn String Quartet in E-flat major
IV. Allegro molto vivace
In contrast to the dark demeanour of Felix’s Op. 80, the finale of Fanny’s quartet has optimism, pizazz and a brilliance synonymous with her intellect. There is no anxiety (except perhaps that from the musicians having to play all those semiquavers!) emanating from the notes on the page, with the four parts working with each other rather than against each other to propel the momentum forward. Fanny was delighted to be published and recognised as a composer in her own right but her continued subservience to Felix is best summed up by the following letter:

“... I’m beginning to publish. I have Herr Bock’s sincere offer for my lieder and have finally turned a receptive ear to his favourable terms. And if I’ve done it of my own free will and cannot blame anyone in my family if aggravation results from it (friends and acquaintances have indeed been urging me for a long time), then I can console myself, on the other hand, with the knowledge that I in no way sought out or induced the type of musical reputation that might have elicited such offers. I hope I won’t disgrace all of you through my publishing …it’s crucial to have your consent, for without it I might not undertake anything of the kind.”