The Famous Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor

Wikipedia sources say: Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor is one of the composer's last large orchestral scores. Wikipedia further says: this concerto is one of the most popular in the violin repertoire. The concerto is in three movements (no break between the movements), and lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Mendelssohn proposed the concerto to Ferdinand David (the concertmaster of the famous Gewandhaus orchestra; Mendelssohn was this orchestra's principal conductor at the time). Mendelssohn was extremely prodigious (only Schubert and Mozart have come close) in the art of composition. The concerto was completed shortly in 1838, but wasn't performed until 1845.

It has always been a topic of discussion why most of the great composers were all keyboardists and not string players: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Hayden, Beethoven, etc., etc. The exception to this rule were Dvorak, Elgar, and Sibelius, all three of them were capable violin players. As a result, Mendelssohn would seek advise from his friend and concertmaster Ferdinand David on how to best write this work. (FYI: Mendelssohn and Mozart both played the violin very well, but they had much more affinity towards the Piano and Organ)

It was Mendelssohn who made Ferdinand David his concertmaster after he accepted the post as the conductor of the famous Gewandhaus orchestra in 1835...Mendelssohn and David were childhood friends; unbeknownst to them that their friendship would restful in the creation of one of the most famous and most widely performed of all violin concertos....

The work is scored for a small orchestra (like most of Mendelssohn's orchestral compositions): two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

The work received its premiere in Leipzig (hence the full name of the orchestra: The Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig.) on March 13, 1845. Ironically enough: Mendelssohn was feeling under the weather and wasn't able to conduct the premiere of his creation. The Danish composer Niels Gade stepped in and conducted the first performance of the work. It wasn't until October of that given year that Mendelssohn finally conducted the work with David as the soloist.

It seems like this work has become a cliché amongst violinists. This composition can either make or break a violinist. There aren't nearly as many works for the violin as there are for the piano. Unfortunately for violinists, they have no choice but to make due with what's available. And since there aren't too many violin concertos/pieces as famous as this one is; young violinists gear up so one day they can perform this work even if there are many other violin concertos out there to choose from. The Mendelssohn violin concerto is still today one of the top-5 in fame and popularity....