Felix Mendelssohn began composing his

Piano Quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

No. 3 in

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes need ...

, Op. 3, for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

in late 1824 and completed it on 18 January 1825, just before his sixteenth birthday. The quartet was published later that year and was dedicated to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

whom Mendelssohn had met a few years earlier. Mendelssohn's three numbered piano quartets were the first works of his to be published, hence their opus numbers.

Structure

The work has four

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: # Allegro molto (

, sonata form) # Andante ( E major, sonata form) # Allegro molto ( F-sharp minor, ternary form, trio in B major) # Allegro vivace (

, sonata form) A typical performance lasts just over half an hour.

Early reception

In March 1825, Mendelssohn's father agreed to allow Felix to pursue a career in music, but only if his potential was recognized by professional musicians. Felix brought his Piano Quartet in B minor to the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, where it was played by director Luigi Cherubini, and by the concertmaster of the Paris Opera, Pierre Baillot. According to Mendelssohn, the musicians were at first careless, but became enthusiastic early in the first movement and, at a terrific speed, played the entire quartet to its conclusion. Baillot approached the young composer after the performance and, without uttering a word, simply embraced him.

References

External links

* Chamber music by Felix Mendelssohn Mendelssohn 3 1825 compositions Compositions in B minor {{chamber-composition-stub