A salient feature of Felix Mendelssohn’s organ works is the presence of many slur markings; these... more A salient feature of Felix Mendelssohn’s organ works is the presence of many slur markings; these encompass as few as two notes and as many as several measures. Confusion surrounds the interpretation of these slurs. Some organists, particularly those trained in performance practices of earlier music, view Mendelssohn’s slurs as indications of articulation, as they would have been in the Baroque Era. Primary source evidence, however, suggests a shift in the meaning of slurs by the time Mendelssohn’s organ works were published. The study of these sources, primarily keyboard and violin methods from the last decades of the eighteenth century through the middle of the nineteenth century, paints a picture of articulation practices during Mendelssohn’s lifetime. Although previous scholarship on the topic has focused on organ methods, Mendelssohn’s relatively limited organ study suggests he may have never consciously attempted to acquire a proper organ technique. Therefore, piano methods of...
A salient feature of Felix Mendelssohn’s organ works is the presence of many slur markings; these... more A salient feature of Felix Mendelssohn’s organ works is the presence of many slur markings; these encompass as few as two notes and as many as several measures. Confusion surrounds the interpretation of these slurs. Some organists, particularly those trained in performance practices of earlier music, view Mendelssohn’s slurs as indications of articulation, as they would have been in the Baroque Era. Primary source evidence, however, suggests a shift in the meaning of slurs by the time Mendelssohn’s organ works were published. The study of these sources, primarily keyboard and violin methods from the last decades of the eighteenth century through the middle of the nineteenth century, paints a picture of articulation practices during Mendelssohn’s lifetime. Although previous scholarship on the topic has focused on organ methods, Mendelssohn’s relatively limited organ study suggests he may have never consciously attempted to acquire a proper organ technique. Therefore, piano methods of...
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