Even more enjoyable in some respects is the "Italian" Symphony in A. It was written earlier than the so-called third, the "Scotch," and is commonly numbered the fourth. Both were well advanced before he left Rome. Its movements are finely contrasted. After the fresh, sunshiny, buoyant _Allegro_, calling up the blue, blue sky and boundless green of Italy,--brought out all the more vividly by the pensive Mendelssohnian subjectivity of the low-running _staccato_ of the violins which sets in right after the announcement of the bright first theme,--how impressive is the sombre, solemn, antique-sounding, steady chant of reeds in the _Andante_, with the soft, warm gush of mingling flutes above! It is like passing from Italian noon-day into the rich gloom of some old church. The tranquil, blissful melody of the _Minuet_ flows on in limpid, peaceful beauty; and the mellow horn Trio makes a delicious episode. In the _Saltarello_ we feel the rush and whirl of Carnival, not without a dash of Mendelssohnian melancholy. The passage from that into the yet wilder _Tarantella_, with its whirling triplets, indicates the very _abandon_ and delirium of excitement, whereas the former, by the hitch in the alternate triplet, denotes a dance in which the dancer still keeps some control upon himself.
Painted by Th. Hildebrand. Engraved by E. Eichens.
This portrait was probably made in 1835, Mendelssohn being at that time in his twenty-sixth year.]
The "Reformation Symphony" (No. 5) dates back almost to his juvenile period. It was written at the age of twenty-two. With the exception of one bright gem, the _Scherzo_, it seems to labor under the proverbial fatality of _occasional_ works. As a Symphony it is exceptional in form, consisting really of only two parts, with a refreshing interlude between. The first part, in which the idea of the Old, the frowning Catholic faith, predominates, includes the _Allegro_ with its short _Andante_ prelude. The second part, the triumph of the New, with its curious variations on the Lutheran Choral, "_Ein' feste Burg_," has likewise its short _Andante_ prelude, whose rather feeble prayer for peace it answers. Suppose a curtain dropped between the two parts, while for interlude and recreation we are vouchsafed that happy _Scherzo_.--But it is hardly fair to count this early effort into his symphonic period, any more than the Symphony "No. 1," in C minor, which bears date 1824.