Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
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Riccardo Chailly
conductor
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 107 “Reformation” (original version)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 6 in A minor
On 11 May 1830 Felix Mendelssohn completed the original version of his “Reformation Symphony,” which he intended as a contribution to honor the 300th anniversary of the “Augsburg Confession,” one of the key documents of the Lutheran Reformation. But the work, whose finale incorporates the Lutheran chorale hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” failed to find success during the composer’s lifetime. The first performance, which was delayed several times, until late 1832, was eventually part of Mendelssohn’s application to become director of the Berlin Singakademie in 1833. It seemed as if this passionate declaration of Protestant faith by a baptized Jewish composer fell on deaf ears. Riccardo Chailly will juxtapose his score with music by another who suffered a similar fate: the “tragic” Sixth Symphony in A minor by Gustav Mahler. In 1897 Mahler also converted to Christianity (in his case, to Catholicism), yet anti-Semitic prejudice was largely to blame for the fact that it took decades after his death before his oeuvre made its breakthrough.
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