6. Symphony Concert

Sun, May 25, 2025 11 h
Mendelssohn-Zyklus I
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Hannah Kendall And At Pains To Temper The Light (German premiere)
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony No. 3 in A minor "Scottish"

Mon, May 26, 2025 19:30 h
Mendelssohn-Zyklus II
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony No. 4 in A major "Italian"
Miroslav Srnka Eighteen Agents
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony No. 5 in D minor "Reformation Symphony"

Cornelius Meister and the Staatsorchester Stuttgart are once again performing a symphony cycle this season.
Following the complete Schumann and Brahms symphonies, the last six Mozart symphonies and symphonies by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, the focus is now on the only four major symphonies by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. His First, written at the age of 15, was premièred at the Mendelssohn home for his sister Fanny's birthday. This was followed in 1830 by the so-called "Reformation Symphony". However, as it only appeared in print posthumously in 1868, it was given the number 5. It was composed on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Lutheran "Augsburg Confession", to which the Luther chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott alludes in the last movement. Intoxicated by the many impressions of his trip to Italy in 1830, the 21-year-old Mendelssohn Bartholdy began to compose his "Italian". The first movement in particular seems to have been inspired by a Mediterranean zest for life. Mendelssohn had already notated the beginning of his "Scottish" before the "Italian". After successful performances as a pianist and conductor in London in 1829, he travelled the legendary landscapes of Scotland with his childhood friend Carl Klingemann. A visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse was of decisive importance for his symphony, as he told his family: "In the deep twilight we went today to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved. (...) The chapel next to it is now missing its roof, grass and ivy are growing in it (...) It is all broken, rotten and the clear sky shines in. I think I found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony there today." However, he would not complete the work until twelve years later at home in Berlin. Between Mendelssohn Bartholdy's symphonies, two contemporary compositions for string orchestra will be performed: And At Pains To Temper The Light by British composer Hannah Kendall, which receives its German premiere in this concert, and Eighteen Agents by Czech composer Miroslav Srnka.