MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides Overture (Op. 26) Score and Analysis

“Felix Mendelssohn's concert overture “The Hebrides” was composed in 1830, revised in 1832, and published the next year as his Op. 26. Some consider it an early tone poem.

It was inspired by one of Mendelssohn's trips to the British Isles, specifically an 1829 excursion to the Scottish island of Staffa, with its basalt sea cave known as Fingal's Cave. It is not known whether Mendelssohn set foot on the island, the cave being best visible from the water, but the composer reported that he immediately jotted down the opening theme for his composition. He at first called the work “To the Lonely Island” or “Zur einsamen Insel”, but then settled on the present title. However, in 1834, the year after the first publication, Breitkopf & Härtel issued an edition with the name “Fingalshöhle” (“Fingal's Cave”) and this title stuck, causing some confusion.

Being a concert overture, The Hebrides does not precede a play or opera, but is instead a standalone composition in a form common for the Romantic period. Dedicated to King Frederick William IV of Prussia, then Crown Prince of Prussia, the B minor work became part of the standard orchestral repertoire and retains this position to the present day.”
- Wikipedia 2019

Performed by Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra

[apostolismoschopoulos]

i hope we will see more analysis video like this in the future

[nathanielvondolteren]

Love the analysis! Thank you so much for uploading!!! Appreciate all the work you put into this.

[jesustovar]

I LIKE THIS OVERTURE VERY MUCH, like any Mendelssohn's work. It is not a symphonic poem, it is an overture that invites you to imagine the Fingal's Cave (if you have seen it in pictures) so, it's a romantic work, but that seems to have impressionistic idea. The premiere of this piece was in 1832, and Mendelssohn traveled to Scottland in 1830, and lived in England during that time, between 1831 and 1832, J. M. W. Turner finishes a painting about "Staffa, Fingal's Cave", i think that painting is a good scenario for this piece, and some people consider Turner as an pre-impressionist painter: COINCIDENCE.

[pengshijie]

奏鸣曲形式
0:06 ГП На моноинтонации построена
1:29 ГП
2:02 ПП(певучая, спокойная интонация, в ней стремление к счастью и покою)
3:05 长笛重复主题然后带出⬇️
3:22 结束主题 громкая радостная ЗП

[nicholasz]

This is great! One minor comment: the note held by the clarinets in measure 3 is a concert A, not a D. I think you may have gotten your transposition reversed :P

[Arash-Tayeb]

This was great! Thank you for making this video.
have you thought of doing an analyses of Debussy or Ravel, there aren't much analyses of them on YouTube

[fabrizioriso]

What program do you use for highlights and edit scores? Thank you

[davidpanton]

Follow the score? Read the analysis? Or just enjoy the music?

[허민-yf]

멘델스존 - 핑갈의 동굴 서곡 : 헤브리디즈 군도 스태퍼섬에 있는 명승지 핑갈의 동굴을 견학하고 감동으로 작곡학 연주회용 서곡

[Phi]

Wagner trashed Mendelssohn, and then stole his best stuff.

[PentameronSV]

This analysis is well done! Would you like to join the Facebook group Score Video Makers?

[Xicocatl]

Absolutely brilliant work, thank you for sharing this!

Do you also take requests? I would love to watch your analysis of Ravel's Pavanne por un infante defunte.

[donna]

No identification of the structure (Sonata Form).

[graeme]

I am sure that the analysis here will be useful to someone. But for me, it seemed to the equivalent of reading a poem or Shakespeare play, and having all the footnotes discussing the punctuation and spelling, and nothing else. What I would prefer to know, is what does this piece of music mean? I don't want to have my imagination ruined by a bar-by-bar synopsis, but maybe there could be a broad outline of the plot, e.g. why are some parts so loud, others so soft? Why are some sections dominated by major keys, other by minor? What is meant to be going on? What story is being told?

[leonelbat]

This is an obvious analysis. Why didn't you say anything about the formal structure or orchestration techniques?