Was Mendelssohn necessary for Wagner?

[Conchis]

Tannhauser is Wagner's most Mendelssohnian work: the influence is unmistakeable to my ears.

Someone who didn't know the facts might conclude that the Hebrides overture was written by the same composer as Hollander, Tannhauser and Lohengrin.

I once read a story that, when 'forced' to conduct Mendelssohn as a 'guest' conductor, Wagner would insist on wearing white gloves - so that he would not be 'contaminated' by the 'Jewishness' of the music.

[Once Was 4]

Tannhauser is Wagner's most Mendelssohnian work: the influence is unmistakeable to my ears.

Someone who didn't know the facts might conclude that the Hebrides overture was written by the same composer as Hollander, Tannhauser and Lohengrin.

I once read a story that, when 'forced' to conduct Mendelssohn as a 'guest' conductor, Wagner would insist on wearing white gloves - so that he would not be 'contaminated' by the 'Jewishness' of the music.

An interesting point (to me at any rate) - I am not sure that it is relevant to this discussion so please indulge me: Mendelssohn's music was of course banned by the Nazis during the Second World War whereas the Berlin Philharmonic had played Wagner over and over again (including innumerable performances of The Mastersingers overture); the first piece which the Berlin Philharmonic played (a couple of weeks after the capitulation of the Nazi regime) was the Midsummer Night's Dream overture. Apparently one of the trombone players (who of course was not required for this overture) absolutely loved this piece and had spirited away the parts and hidden them somewhere in the hope that, one day, he would hear his colleagues play it again. There is a moral here somewhere and I struggle to find words for it.

[richardfinegold]

One of the ironies Of Wagner v. Mendelssohn is that while I’ve never read a formal biography of Mendelssohn, from what I
do know about him he was a pretty devout Lutheran.

[richardfinegold]

Tannhauser is Wagner's most Mendelssohnian work: the influence is unmistakeable to my ears.

Someone who didn't know the facts might conclude that the Hebrides overture was written by the same composer as Hollander, Tannhauser and Lohengrin.

I once read a story that, when 'forced' to conduct Mendelssohn as a 'guest' conductor, Wagner would insist on wearing white gloves - so that he would not be 'contaminated' by the 'Jewishness' of the music.

I haven’t listened to anything except the Overture to Tannhauser for the last 40 years or so, but the Overture is an excellent example of a link between the two: the beginning sounds like it comes from the world of Midsummer Nights Dream. And I’ve always thought that the Overture to Dutchman built harmonically on the Hebrides

[richardfinegold]

It might have irked Wagner a bit to know all too well how important and successful Mendelssohn had been while only four years older than him and that Mendelssohn had not lived long enough to see how successful he, Wagner, was to become. He wrote friendly letters to Mendelssohn at the Gewandhaus (recently published by the Mendelssohn family - link) and as far as I know, he did not start running Mendelssohn down until after he was dead. Maybe he was being opportunistic when writing to him in a friendly tone but it is reported that he described Mendelssohn as "das größte spezifische Musikergenie, das der Welt seit Mozart erschienen ist" (the greatest musical genius since Mozart), praised the Hebrides overture and kept the "Lieder ohne Worte" on his piano right to the end, playing them often.

Fascinating. Thanks for the link. I regret again that I can’t read German

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

One of the ironies Of Wagner v. Mendelssohn is that while I’ve never read a formal biography of Mendelssohn, from what I
do know about him he was a pretty devout Lutheran.

Yes - that's why I referred to "Jewish descent" earlier. To call Mendelssohn "Jewish" in this context rather seems to be following the argument on Wagner's (and the Nazis') terms.

I wonder what Moses Mendelssohn would have thought of his family's conversions to Christianity - conversions that began in the very next generation.

[Conchis]

The very early Wagner operas - Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot - sound to my ears like a marriage of Weber and Mendelssohn: the two composers who influenced the fledgling composer most. Others cite Meyerbeer but I would dispute that - on the basis of the one Meyerbeer opera I have seen (Robert Le Diable), Meyerbeer was nothing but a hack who wrote music to accompany visual spectacles.