This week’s music offering is the Mendelssohn Octet in E Flat major, which he composed when he was 16 (you were hopefully fumbling around with girls at 16, but Mendelssohn was different). It’s scored for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos - and it inaugurated a new form of chamber music - something beyond the standard string quartet. What you have here is the exposition of the primary themes you will hear repeated and developed during the first movement - which lasts about 15 minutes overall (I will link the entire recording in the next post). If you listen to this excerpt closely - you will recognize what you hear later, and be able to appreciate how Mendelssohn is playing with the themes. This is 1825, so we’ve already started to go beyond very strict and observable delineation of themes - they kind of bleed into one another without very clear breaks. But one pointer is the opening 10 seconds gives you the core of the first theme, and by the time you hear the pizzicato (plucking of the strings - you will see it too) you’re into the second theme group. Once you’ve got that in your head - you can listen to the entire first movement and have a good idea what is going on without any technical knowledge - just as a listener. I like Mendelssohn a lot. Probably will post more of his work over time.