RI Civic Chorale/ Mendelssohn: Prelude to Greatness
@ St. James Church, Manville, RI // Our season opens with an all-Mendelssohn program displaying some of the musical and thematic pillars that place him among the most distinguished and famous composers. Two hundred years ago, the young composer’s career was just beginning. At merely sixteen years old, Mendelssohn composed his String Octet, a remarkable and brilliant piece that laid the groundwork for the iconic string-writing seen throughout his compositional output. Notably around the same time, he met Germany’s most acclaimed writer Goethe – who called him a musical prodigy comparable to Mozart. Mendelssohn would go on to set Goethe’s mysterious The First Walpurgis Night, filled with excitement and scenes of witches and bonfires. We round out the November concert with settings of Psalm texts for soprano soloist and chorus: opening with the lovely Hear My Prayer and closing with Psalm 42 which the composer himself described as his “very best sacred composition.” As we examine the music that defined the start of Mendelssohn’s career, it is a joy to feature the 2023 Collegiate Vocal Competition Winners as the soloists for these choral-orchestral masterworks.
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