DaPonte String Quartet Presents All-Mendelssohn Program Nov. 7

Story posted November 04, 2009

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Photo courtesy of www.daponte.org.

The DaPonte String Quartet will perform an all-Mendelssohn program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 7, in Kanbar Auditorium, Studzinski Recital Hall. The concert is part of the opening weekend of the quartet's winter series, and will also be performed at venues in Newcastle and Portland.

The DaPonte String Quartet will explore the relationship between the brilliant composer Felix Mendelssohn and his lesser-known but equally talented sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. The Quartet's special guest will be Suzanne Nance, classical music host of MPBN radio.

While Felix became spectacularly famous in his lifetime, Fanny was not encouraged by her family to publish her compositions, as it was not considered an appropriate role for a woman in the first half of the 19th century. According to DaPonte cellist Myles Jordan, "Fanny's compositional gifts stand as poster children for the women's rights movement. Had she been given the opportunity to fully exploit them the world would have known two first-rank Mendelssohn composers."

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Suzanne Nance.

The DaPonte will play Fanny's Quartet in E Flat Major, written in 1834 but published only recently. Nance will sing a song that Fanny wrote, but published under Felix's name. This song was actually a favorite of England's Queen Victoria.

The program will include a few of Felix's early fugues, written at a very young age, and will conclude with one of his last compositions, Quartet in F Minor, Opus 80. Emotional and dark, it is his first work written after Fanny's unexpected death, which had disturbed him so deeply that he was scarcely able to compose. He died an early death six months later.

Between the music selections, Nance will read letters written by members of the Mendelssohn family, illustrating their influence, dependence on, and profound affection for one another, as well as the differing expectations placed on creative men and woman in the nineteenth century.

The concert will also be performed Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrews Church in Newcastle, a new venue for the DSQ, and Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. at State Street Church in Portland.

Tickets are $25 for the general public, $22 for seniors, and free for 21 and under. Bowdoin ID holders will be admitted free to the concert at the College.

For information on tickets and locations visit www.daponte.org or phone 207-529-4555.

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