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Rating: The German composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), despite being born into a family of Jewish origin, was of profound Protestant faith. The fact that his family was composed of merchants, bankers, and intellectuals allowed him, unlike many other great composers (from Mozart to Schubert), to lead a life always affluent and free of worries. His Protestant faith proved to be a crucial element in his symphonic cycle: both the II and V symphonies exhibit characteristics that render them similar to Masses partially (II Symphony, where the choir appears at the finale: a tribute to Beethoven's IX Symphony?) or entirely (V Symphony) instrumental. The V Symphony, classified as Op107, has been commonly nicknamed "The Reformation": it was indeed composed in 1830, on the occasion of the III centenary of the "Augsburg Confession" (which occurred in 1530), which marked the definitive establishment of the Christian-Protestant faith within Central European culture. In this symphony, it is indeed not difficult to discern a programmatic intention.
The first movement of the symphony consists of 2 different sections: the first is an introduction ("Andante") characterized by two aspects: harmonically, the key is constantly suspended between major and minor, timbrically, the instrumental colors are very changing and ethereal, and they present almost sonorous shimmers. The first aspect could allude to the constant uncertainty of life, while the second to the mysterious harmonies of Paradise. The second section, on the other hand, is a vigorous "Allegro con fuoco": here we find a definitive affirmation of the minor key, the themes are turbulent yet solemn, the orchestral dynamics are powerful and decisive: perhaps, the whole is a reference to the harsh criticisms by Luther towards the Church, and the inner confidence shown by the Protestant pastor.
The second movement ("Allegro vivace") is a Scherzo with Trio: it has a distinctly folk character; Mendelssohn probably wanted to convey to us that the Bible is not for the clergy alone; rather, it IS and MUST BE for everyone, and therefore, the act of translating the Bible from Latin into the vernacular languages (of which Luther himself was a pioneer) was legitimate.
The third movement is an "Andante", with a very thoughtful and melancholic character. The dialogue between strings and woodwinds probably aims to aid dialogue between the Lutheran and Catholic Churches, in order to overcome the divides between these two poles of Christianity.
The fourth and final movement, however, is constructed as a instrumental chorale: introduced by the strings, which soon join in the proclamation of the grave and solemn theme of the Lutheran chorale "Ein' Feste Burg ist unser Gott" (a theme later also employed by Wagner as a motif for some chorales in the tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung"). The message left by this finale is the following: all Christians should direct their prayers to one single God, all united, and set aside useless divisions and fanaticisms.
Mendelssohn, however, did not write any program for this symphony, but implicitly adhered to it at least in part (by his own admission, he wrote this work to honor the tricentennial of the Lutheran Reformation).
An intensely expressive page, the V symphony has unfortunately often been unjustly neglected in favor of the better-known III and IV. Among the conductors who have tackled it, the legendary name of Leonard Bernstein stands out; unfortunately, his recording with the New York Symphony Orchestra is now a collector’s item and difficult to find on the market. An excellent alternative to this recording, however, remains Claudio Abbado’s with the London Symphony Orchestra, included in a Deutsche Grammophon CD box set that also includes Mendelssohn’s other 4 symphonies and overtures by the same composer. Unfortunately, this "Reformation" is less passionate and clear than Bernstein's, we can only hope for a reissue of the latter's version...
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