Cooper, John Michael - Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony

This is the first book-length study of the composition, reception, extramusical implications, and stylistic eclecticism of Mendelssohn's 'Italian' Symphony, a staple of the nineteenth-century musical canon. Cooper devotes extensive attention to the differences between the posthumously published familiar version of the work and the composer's revision, which remained unpublished until 2001. He presents substantial new insights into a work which many listeners and scholars have known only in the version the composer considered less successful.

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CONTENTS

1 Compositional Context and Critical Reception
2 Composition, Revision, and Early Performances
3 The Musical Sources
4 The Music and Its Revisions
5 An 'Italian' Symphony?
6 Knowing Mendelssohn

Series	Studies in Musical Genesis, Structure & Interpretation