Mendelssohn completed his Sixth and final Symphony in 1846 following a visit to Wales during a break from rehearsals for a performance of Elijah at the Birmingham Festival. Mendelssohn had met Phoebe Roach in Wales and been introduced to her younger sister Emma. The Sixth Symphony was originally dedicated to Emma, but this dedication was changed once he found out that she was betrothed to Albert Royd, a pile driver on the Great Western Railway.
The work was initially written as an entry for the 1847 Eisteddfod. Mendelssohn had been honoured with being conferred with the title “Bardd”. As a result he incorporated this title into his name, being known henceforth as Mendelssohn-Barddoldy.
The work is scored for a conventional orchestra with the addition of a Telyn or Welsh Harp in the slow movement and a bass soloist and male chorus in the last movement, the Lobariengesang - the Hymns and Arias of Praise which gives the Symphony one of its nicknames, the other is to refer to it as the Welsh Symphony, although this latter nickname was never used during the composer’s lifetime.
For many years the Symphony was totally unknown, languishing in the vaults at the Welsh National Library in Aberystwyth. It has recently come to light during an audit there and been performed by Francisco Patella and the Tibia Sinfonia. This recording has just been released on the Poisson d'Avril label.
The work is in four movements:
First Movement
Allegro Moderato
After a short slow introduction Mendelssohn brings in his first subject, a somewhat dense theme with much binding in the scrum before a long hanging passage based on a song about the Welsh-Italian star Philippo Bennetto. The second subject is suggestive of an itinerant baker’s song, Emrys Evans. This is the famous song Bread of Evans. The movement ends quietly.
Second Movement
Adagio {The underground struggle (Mine Kampf)}
The movement starts with the lead violin (marked Pb in the score) playing a mournful melody reminiscent of a funeral dirge. This is then repeated in a different register on the telyn, before the violin resumes its tune. The inspiration behind the music was the tragic accident at the Tyngoch Mine when the lift fell on one of the workers, crushing him to death, hence Mendelssohn’s choice of key of A flat minor. It has been said that a good tune improves in the telyn.
Third Movement
Scherzo Barbarico
This is played very fast with the theme being passed from one instrument to another in the manner of a barbarian celebration. The music evolves into a type of game in a celebrated passage. Just when the music seems to flag in its lowest register the theme is scooped up brilliantly and passed to a running figure which symbolises success over the all black notes.
Fourth Movement
Allegro - Molto Prestatyn
Following the orchestral opening the bass soloist and choir enter in the passage known as the Lobariengesang - Hymns and Arias of Praise. It has been the subject of much speculation that some of the chorus writing was completed from sketches left by Mendelssohn after his death. Using nothing more sophisticated than a blackboard in a schoolroom, this was undertaken by David Kreidemann, known afterwards as David of the white rock.
Sadly, some of the choral writing is of a rather mundane nature; the most memorable passages are given to the bass soloist - the Terfel gets all the best tunes.
A brief passage on the horns brings us to the coda which is over all too briefly, before you can say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobyllllantisilochgogogoch the work is over.