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Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, Scottish Felix Mendelssohn
(1809 – 1847)

Many of Felix Mendelssohn’s lifelong friendships were developed during the years of the
private house concerts; it was then that he grew close to Ferdinand David (the musician
whom Mendelssohn blessed with his two violin concertos), Julius Schubring (the
theologian who would go on to compile the texts for Mendelssohn’s oratorios), and Karl
Klingemann (eleven years Mendelssohn’s senior, an accomplished amateur musician and
a diplomat). Klingemann is at least partly to thank for inspiring his third symphony and the
concert overture Fingal’s Cave (also known as The Hebrides), two of Mendelssohn’s most
popular works.

In 1827, Klingemann left Berlin for London to serve as secretary to the Hanoverian
legislation, and two years later he urged Mendelssohn to come for an extended visit. On
March 26, 1829, Mendelssohn wrote him a breathless letter announcing that he expected
to arrive in London in less than a month and proclaiming, “NEXT AUGUST I AM GOING
TO SCOTLAND.” The boat trip proved dismally unpleasant, and Mendelssohn spent much
of it seasick. He put memories of it quickly behind him and plunged eagerly into London’s
cultural swirl.
In July, Mendelssohn and Klingemann began their journey from London to Edinburgh, a
long and sometimes arduous trip by stagecoach that Mendelssohn documented through
pencil drawings and pen-and-ink sketches. On July 26 they arrived in Edinburgh, and a few
days later they set out on a tour of the Scottish Highlands, which took them as far west
as the town of Oban and the Atlantic islands of Staffa and Iona, and then brought them
south to Glasgow and back to England. Mendelssohn wrote home, “In the deep twilight we
went today to [Holyrood] palace [in Edinburgh] where Queen Mary and loved...The chapel
below is now roofless. Grass and ivy thrive there and at the broken altar where Mary was
crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything is ruined, decayed, and the clear heavens pour in”
[followed by the first theme what was to be his Symphony No. 3]. Most of the symphony
was composed during the years 1829-31 and 1841-42; the work received its premiere on
March 2, 1842 at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig under the composer’s direction.

Orchestrated for double winds (featured in many beautiful solo moments), four horns, two
trumpets, strings, and timpani, the symphony falls into four interconnected movements: a
stormy opening Allegro sonata form with a slow introduction; a joyous second movement
featuring pentatonicism and piquant “Scotch snap” rhythms; a gorgeous Adagio with
cantabile strings; and a dramatic finale marked guerriero (warrior) with fierce-sounding
musical gestures throughout. Most of the main themes were developed by Mendelssohn
from his original “Queen Mary’s chapel” idea from 1829, and the closing Coda of the final
movement should recall the sound of a male-voice choir, returning us to Mary’s coronation
(in Mendelssohn’s imagination, as she was really crowned at Stirling).

2022/23 Season Oh, the Places We’ll Go! PAGE 15