Mendelssohn: Six Motets, Op. 79

Compared with large-scale oratorios such as St Paul, which includes the lyrical chorus How lovely are the messengers, Mendelssohn’s smaller sacred choral works were influenced by Palestrina, ranging from short liturgical motets such as the Sechs Sprüche to the canticle settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. The famous sacred melody ‘O for the wings of a dove’ is to be found in Hear my prayer. The fine choristers of St Albans Cathedral can also be heard ‘on sparkling form’ (Gramophone) in John Rutter’s Gloria (8572563).

Mendelssohn’s ‘Hear my prayer’ (or, in its English adaptation also known as ‘O for the wings of a dove’) is a much loved piece of ‘Victoriana’, made famous by, among others, Master Ernest Lough. Often sung by boy sopranos, it is here performed by Felicity Palmer, traditionally a mezzo, but using the soprano register of her voice here. She is soloist with the Heinrich Schütz Choir and Chorale under Roger Norrington, on an Argo LP which also contains the Sechs Sprüche (Six Aphorisms), a collection of short motets for particular days in the ecclesiastical year was written in 1845, the year in which Mendelssohn resumed directorship of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra. The three sublime Psalms, Op. 73 are included (shared between the Heinrich Schütz and King’s College choirs) as is the brief but touching Ave Maria, written in Rome in 1830 and whose publication at the time led The Neue Zeitschrift für Musik said of it at the time that ‘the music sings so convincingly of the sanctity of Mary that it could lead a non-Catholic to her. ‘If issued as a pop disc Ave Maria would probably make the top ten’ wrote The Gramophone when this recording was first issued.

8 CD + CD ROM

Mendelssohn’s reputation has suffered over the past century from the madness of the Nazis who banned his music, destroyed statues of him, to the rantings of Richard Wagner in his horrible little tract ‘Judaism in Music’.The fact that he was probably one of the most gifted child prodigies of all time has also tended to obscure the fact that his later works are just as remarkable as those of his youth.

A Jew who converted to Protestantism, Mendelssohn was a prolific composer of sacred music and he made important studies of J.S Bach – in fact he was instrumental in the resurgence of interest in Bach’s great oratorios in the 1820s and 30s. Bach’s influence upon Mendelssohn’s own sacred music is unmistakable, however composers such as Handel, Haydn and Mozart all played a part in creating his choral style.

Schumann commented on one of the works on this collection (Prayer – Verlieh uns Frieden), ‘ This little piece deserves to be world famous, and will indeed be so in the future. Madonnas by Raphael and Murillo cannot remain hidden for long’

This 8 CD collection contains many more such gems, and offers the listener an opportunity to discover more about the composer of Fingals Cave, the Violin Concerto, and the Italian Symphony. Mendelssohn’s genius is apparent in every one of the works to be found in this set.