Peter Mercer-Taylor

Not necessarily a thoroughly detailed treatment of Mendelssohn's life, this book was more than a competent overview, perfect for preparing for an outing to the symphony. I wanted more exposition on and inclusion of the volumes of Mendelssohn’s correspondence which was included but sparse; however this work tended to lean more toward facts and figures. Also not included, are detailed lay analyses of Mendelssohn’s catalog. Some pieces receive a fair overview, but someone interested in a particular piece will probably want to turn to a reference work or program notes collection.

For the potential reader, there is the assumption by the author that the reader is familiar with various high level facets of musical knowledge, e.g. the basic structure of a sonata-form movement, but overall there is no technical musical ability required to appreciate this work.… (más)