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Book Review
Dec. 26th, 2018 04:22 pmMendelssohn
by Philip Radcliffe
This straightforward biography of Felix Mendelssohn was informative but a little flawed. Radcliffe divides the book into two distinct sections, one for Mendelssohn's life and one for his works. I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with this style of organization, as it leads to an artificial separation between a composer's experiences and their music. Plus, it often renders the works section into a rather dry almost list like series of descriptions. Given that we have plenty of letters and other primary documents from Mendelssohn and his family, I found the biographical section curiously impersonal. Also, Radcliffe is curiously and frequently critical of Mendelssohn's music, often giving a lot of time to enumerating faults and declaring several works "without interest".
by Philip Radcliffe
This straightforward biography of Felix Mendelssohn was informative but a little flawed. Radcliffe divides the book into two distinct sections, one for Mendelssohn's life and one for his works. I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with this style of organization, as it leads to an artificial separation between a composer's experiences and their music. Plus, it often renders the works section into a rather dry almost list like series of descriptions. Given that we have plenty of letters and other primary documents from Mendelssohn and his family, I found the biographical section curiously impersonal. Also, Radcliffe is curiously and frequently critical of Mendelssohn's music, often giving a lot of time to enumerating faults and declaring several works "without interest".
