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24 MENDELSSOHN_TALICH QUARTET
In the mid-1960s East German publishers, and notably the Deutsche
Verlag für Musik, at long last produced a general catalogue of
Mendelssohn’s works. Spurred on by their example, other German
publishers made their contribution. With reunification the ulterior
motives on either side diminished. Indeed, with Germany reunited,
Mendelssohn was no longer claimed, rather simplistically, as the
‘Leipzig composer’ (i.e. from the former GDR). And musicians such
as Kurt Masur were able at last to get on with the work of giving the
composer a truer image.
Even today Mendelssohn’s chamber music - and his compositions in general
- are still underestimated. We shall not go into detail about the disastrous
effects of Richard Wagner’s out and out condemnation of his works for
reasons that had nothing to do with ‘noble’ musical concerns… Or the fact
thatWagner’s judgement was ratified under the Third Reich, when Germany
went so far as to remove Mendelssohn’s name from the dictionaries of the
time…
But it must also be pointed out that Mendelssohn was not the best of
promoters of his own work. In his personal classification of 72 compositions
that he considered worthy of being handed down to posterity, he set aside a
certain number of scores that prove to be quite delightful to us today.