Good Friday: Mendelssohn's Lobgesang

We owe the current popularity of Bach's St. Matthew Passion to Felix Mendelssohn. His fascination with the great Baroque composer went so far that in his cantata O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, he took the famous chorale as the basis for a grand fantasy. With his Second symphony, "Lobgesang," he honored another composer: Beethoven.

Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" is not actually a symphony. The grand, over an hour long work is more of a cantata with a symphonic introduction, written for the celebration of 400 years of printing. Mendelssohn was inspired by the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and gave it his own romantic twist. Only after his death was the work published as his Second Symphony. Rarely performed, but a gem for lovers of vocal music.

Felix Mendelssohn liked to take a cue from Johann Sebastian Bach in addition to Beethoven. Not only did he learn much from this Baroque composer, he also brought his work back into the public eye. In 1829, for example, he put the St. Matthew Passion back on the program for the first time in nearly a hundred years. An act of heroism from which we are still reaping the benefits.