Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn) - Legacy

Legacy

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto influenced the concertos of many other composers, who would use aspects of the concerto in their own. This would lead to the concerto being regarded as one of the most plagiarised of all time.

For example, the unusual placement of the cadenza before the recapitulation would inspire violin concertos by Tchaikovsky (where the cadenza is similarly placed) and Sibelius (where the cadenza serves to extend the development section). Moreover, following this concerto it would be very rare for a composer to leave a cadenza unwritten, for the soloist to improvise, as in the days of Mozart and Beethoven. The linking of the three movements would also influence other concertos, an example being Liszt's Second Piano Concerto.

The concerto itself was an instant success, warmly received at its premiere and well received by contemporary critics. By the end of the nineteenth century, the piece was already considered one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire. It would become one of Mendelssohn's most popular pieces, and was still regularly performed, even when interest in his music declined in the early twentieth century. In 1906, the year before his death, celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party:

The work has developed a reputation as an essential work for all aspiring violin virtuosi to conquer. This has led to the concerto becoming virtually ubiquitous in the discography of concert violinists, even including those who were only active at the very dawn of recorded sound and of whom very little recorded music exists, such as Eugène Ysaÿe. Even so, the concerto is still technically challenging and is generally considered to be as difficult as many other famous counterparts.