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When Felix Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong> completed a draft of the work in 1830 he called it Die einsame Insel\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0The Lonely Isle.\u00a0<\/em>Two years later he renamed it\u00a0Die Hebriden\u00a0<\/em>(The Hebrides<\/a><\/strong>).\u00a0<\/em>But here\u2019s the thing: In 1834 Breifkopf & H\u00e4rtel published the the orchestral parts as Die Hebriden <\/em>but the score as Fingals H\u00f6hle\u2019<\/em>(Fingal\u2019s Cave<\/em>) \u2013 and the confusion stuck. In the UK, we generally refer to it as The Hebrides. <\/em>But it\u2019s best just to pick a side and run with it. Probably.<\/p>\n Yes. Mendelssohn and his friend Karl Klingemann travelled to England in 1829, and then went on to Scotland, where the composer painted and sketched his way around the country. As part of the trip, he travelled to the Hebrides Islands off the west Coast and visited the island of Staffa \u2013 known for its puffins and its atmospheric cave. With its echoing acoustics, which emphasised the sound of rumbling waves, Fingal\u2019s Cave made a deep impression on Mendelssohn, who later sent his sister Fanny<\/a><\/strong> a postcard, with the work\u2019s opening theme, that read: \u2018In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there.\u2019<\/p>\n Although it is a piece of programme music, it doesn\u2019t tell a specific story. Rather, Mendelssohn\u2019s aim was to set a scene: to capture the swell and feel of the Atlantic, and the sound of waves crashing against rocks.<\/p>\n Aha. So, although it is an overture, it\u2019s a concert overture, meaning that it\u2019s a standalone work with no opera attached to it. Which is perhaps a shame: as a potential curtain-raiser for an opera, it\u2019s a pretty promising one.<\/p>\n Why was Scotland so important for Mendelssohn?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Six of the best\u2026classical works about Scotland<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Actually, not very easy at all. Despite his initial flash of inspiration, Mendelssohn spent the next three years wrestling with his score, completing at least two versions of it in the meantime. In 1832 he wrote to his sister that he still did not consider it finished: \u2018The middle part, forte in D major, is very stupid, and savours more of counterpoint than of oil and seagulls and dead fish.\u2019<\/p>\n The revised version \u2013 in which the \u2018very stupid\u2019 middle section had been replaced \u2013 was ready for its first performance in London at the Philharmonic Society in May 1832.<\/p>\n There are two key themes in this overture, the first \u2013 played initially by the violas, cellos and bassoons \u2013 being the one that Mendelssohn sent to his sister Fanny. Dark and majestic, it conjures up the grandeur of the cave, and is developed in several ways that pay homage to the seascape. The second theme, meanwhile, is more lyrical, and captures the rolling of the waves. It builds to a huge climax, whereupon the material becomes a lot more turbulent. But the storm abates, and the music ends with a sense of tranquility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Mendelssohn, apparently was very seasick on his trip to Fingal\u2019s Cave. His friend Klingemann wrote that he got \u2018along better with the sea as an artist than as a human being with a stomach.\u2019<\/p>\n Sir John Eliot Gardiner with the London Symphony Orchestra<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Joseph Swensen with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nWas it actually inspired by a trip to Fingal\u2019s Cave?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Does it tell a story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
If it\u2019s an overture, where\u2019s the rest of the opera?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How easy was it to write?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
When was it finally ready then?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
In a nutshell, can you guide me through the music?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
One random fact?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Recommended recordings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n