Talk:Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Classical music, which aims to improve, expand, copy edit, and maintain all articles related to classical music, that are not covered by other classical music related projects. Please read the guidelines for writing and maintaining articles. To participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page for more details.Classical musicWikipedia:WikiProject Classical musicTemplate:WikiProject Classical musicClassical music articles

Citation[edit]

I like to suggest changing the citation to a wording without zensored parts: all parts of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's impressions inspired him to this simfony: "In der tiefen Dämmerung gingen wir heut nach dem Palaste, wo Königin Maria gelebt und geliebt hat; es ist da ein kleines Zimmer zu sehen, mit einer Wendeltreppe an der Thür; die stiegen sie hinauf und fanden den Rizzio im kleinen Zimmer, zogen ihn heraus, und drei Stuben davon ist eine finstere Ecke, wo sie ihn ermordet haben. Der Kapelle daneben fehlt nun das Dach; Gras und Epheu wachsen viel darin, und am zerbrochenen Altar wurde Maria zur Königin von Schottland gekrönt. Es ist da alles zerbrochen, morsch, und der heitere Himmel scheint hinein. Ich glaube, ich habe heut da den Anfang meiner Schottischen Sinfonie gefunden." (Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Brief an die Eltern, Edinburgh, 30. Juli 1829) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.250.244.140 (talk) 17:51, 24 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Recent edit by anon[edit]

There's no wikification and the format is terrible. Plus it was done in one fell swoop. Sorry to be suspicious, but was it copied from somewhere? I'm trying to decide whether to clean up or revert. DavidRF (talk) 01:49, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reverted. The fact that in the text it has "Your browser may not support display of this image." shows it's an obvious ripoff from somewhere. Combined with no edit summery, well, it's not like the info is lost for now. ♫ Melodia Chaconne ♫ (talk) 02:06, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Melodia. It was obviously copied and pasted from something. Any edit that improves the encyclopedia is a good edit, and a revert here, in my opinion, is a good edit. Antandrus (talk) 02:22, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks guys. I had a feeling it was suspicious, but wanted to confirm. Sometimes first-time anons simply don't know about wiki-formatting, so I wanted to give them the benefit of a brief discussion before reverting. The edit is in the history for potential future "fact mining". DavidRF (talk) 16:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Scottish influence?[edit]

There is conflicting information between this article and Felix Mendelssohn. This article states:

The lively second movement is derived from Scottish folk music.

But the Felix Mendelssohn article states:

This piece evokes Scotland's atmosphere in the ethos of Romanticism, but does not employ actual Scottish folk melodies.

Which is correct? -neatnate (talk) 19:03, 21 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

According to an essay by Julius Harrison, in a Penguin collection I have called The Symphony (Middlesex, England, 1966), "... [the movement is] founded on a clarinet theme with a touch of 'Charlie is my darling' about its dotted quavers -- something Mendelssohn may have remembered and set down." So not so much "derived" as a "reminiscence of", or "suggestion of", at least in Harrison's opinion. So I think "derived from" is a stretch, unless someone has a reliable source giving something more definite. Antandrus (talk) 19:09, 21 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Breitkopf and Hartel first edition of the score (1843) makes absolutely no mention of Scotland. Is there evidence that the label "Scotch" (the word "Scottish" is a fairly recent revision) was used in connection with the piece in Britain in Mendelssohn's lifetime, or is the main authority for its connection with Scotland Mendelssohn's 1829 diary entry about visiting the ruins of the Holyrood chapel in Edinburgh? I would suggest, with respect, that the quotations from Julius Harrison and other claims of origins in Scottish folk music may be very close to wishful thinking. And I can't see that the coda of the finale, though characteristic of Mendelssohn's chorale-style writing (see Charles Rosen on this in his book on Romanticism) is necessarily "German"- that's a claim which needs an authority if ever there was one. It may not be irrelevant that performers have usually found this coda a problem. Klemperer recomposed it entirely, Weingartner shortened it, and Karajan tried to solve it by ignoring Mendelssohn's tempo marking.Delahays (talk) 16:31, 7 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here's one more: R. Larry Todd writing in the most recent New Grove: "...some element of Scottish folk music no doubt resurfaces in the lively pentatonic clarinet melody that opens the scherzo." Not sure how to word it in our article. Antandrus (talk) 19:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have provided a rewording.--Smerus (talk) 09:56, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Symphony No. 3 in A minor (the redirect)[edit]

can also refer to Symphony No. 3 (Myaskovsky), for example, so is ambiguous (even though the Mendelssohn is far better known.) ELSchissel (talk) 01:44, 18 May 2023 (UTC) (edit: or, you know, Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff).)[reply]