Joshua Bell plays and conducts Mendelssohn

From an early age, Mendelssohn was an avid Shakespeare fan. In July 1826, he let his sister Fanny into a “secret” plan to “dream a Midsummernight’s dream” – in music. The 17-year–old’s flash of genius struck like a bolt of lightning when it was first performed. “Nothing more beautiful can be imagined in music,” praised fellow composer Robert Schumann. “The bloom of youth lies bestrewn over it as over hardly any other work by the composer. The consummate master has taken his first supreme flight at the most fortunate moment.” One could hardly say it better. This sensational success was repeated by Mendelssohn almost two decades later with his Violin Concerto. “In the happy union of noblevirtuosity and poetic meaningfulness it has not yet been surpassed,” wrotethe eminent German musicologist Arnold Schering. This is undoubtedly also thanks to the soloist at the premiere, Ferdinand David, who advised and assisted Mendelssohn in preparing the violin part, and was justified in saying, with some pride, “Mendelssohn’s concerto would not be played half as much if it had some passages that were risky or uncomfortable. But there is not a single one in it, and I may well say: grâce à moi.” And thanks to him, violin virtuosos love the work as much as their audiences.