Paul Jacobs: Recreation of Felix Mendelssohn 's 1840 All-Bach Program

Celebrating 25 years since he first made musical history at age 23 by performing Bach’s complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon on the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, organist Paul Jacobs, the only organist ever to have won a GRAMMY Award—in 2011 for Messiaen’s towering Livre du Saint-Sacrament—is today considered one of the most sought-after artists in the world.

Following his Bach “The Art of Fugue” recital at St. Peter's Church, Mr. Jacobs will recreate the legendary Bach program given by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 at Leipzig’s Thomanerkirche, at New York’s Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036).

“Mendelssohn is credited for initiating the Bach Revival of the 19th century," says Mr. Jacobs. "Of particular interest to him were Bach's organ works, which inspired Mendelssohn to become a skilled organist so he could perform this music on his travels (as well as his own compositions at the instrument). After practicing long hours at the organ, Mendelssohn wrote that he sometimes found himself "dancing Bach's pedal passages down the street." His well-documented "Bach recital" of 1840 at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig features a rich tapestry of some of Bach's finest creations for the instrument. One can imagine the delight experienced that evening by Mendelssohn and his audience.”

The Mendelssohn program stands as a landmark event in the 19th-century renewed interest in J. S. Bach's music. It was Mendelssohn's first full-length organ recital devoted entirely to Bach's works, performed in the very church where Bach had served as Thomaskantor a century earlier. Mendelssohn offered his recital to fundraise for a monument to Bach, which still stands near the church to this day. Numerous dignitaries came to hear Mendelssohn in performance; among them was the great composer Robert Schumann whose review of the six Bach works appeared in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik: “Would that I could record last evening in these pages with golden letters! It was, for a change, a concert for men, a complete whole from beginning to end.” (August 6, 1840)

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