The Price of Assimilation : Felix Mendelssohn and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition

Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. As these commentators have rightly noted, Mendelssohn was born Jewish and did not convert to Protestantism until age seven, his grandfather was the famous Jewish reformer and philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and his music was banned by the Nazis, who clearly viewed him as a Jew. Such facts tell only part of the story, however. Through a mix of cultural analysis, biographical study, and a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's sacred works, The Price of Assimilation provides dramatic new answers to the so-called Mendelssohn Jewish question. Sposato demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a nineteenth-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his faith without having to publicly disparage his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. As these commentators have rightly noted, Mendelssohn was born Jewish and did not convert to Protestantism until age seven, his grandfather was the famous Jewish reformer and philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and his music was banned by the Nazis, who clearly viewed him as a Jew. Such facts tell only part of the story, however. Through a mix of cultural analysis, biographical study, and a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's sacred works, The Price of Assimilation provides dramatic new answers to the so-called "Mendelssohn Jewish question." Sposato demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a nineteenth-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his faith without having to publicly disparage his Jewish heritage Contents......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 12 Introduction......Page 16 1. New Christians......Page 27 The Mendelssohns and the Synagogue......Page 29 Reinventing Mendelssohn......Page 37 Mendelssohn’s Evolving Relationship with Judaism......Page 47 Judicious Cuts......Page 51 The St. Matthew Passion Chorales and the Berlin Hymn Tradition......Page 59 The St. Matthew Passion and the Theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher......Page 61 Other Performances of the St. Matthew Passion......Page 64 3. Moses......Page 71 Christology, Anti-Semitism, and Moses......Page 76 Mendelssohn, Marx, and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition......Page 86 4. Paulus......Page 91 A Textual History of Paulus......Page 92 Paulus and the Influences of Carl Loewe, Louis Spohr, and Abraham Mendelssohn......Page 101 Paulus and Philo-Heathenism......Page 105 The Evolution of the Anti-Semitic Image in Paulus......Page 110 Lessons from Paulus: A Reevaluation of Die erste Walpurgisnacht......Page 121 5. Elias......Page 127 A Textual History of Elias......Page 128 Christology in Elias......Page 141 The Jewish Image in Elias......Page 160 6. Christus......Page 176 The Genesis of Christus......Page 177 The Jewish Image in Christus......Page 184 The Universality of Das Volk......Page 186 Conclusion: Matters of Perspective......Page 190 Notes......Page 194 Bibliography......Page 224 C......Page 234 F......Page 235 J......Page 236 M......Page 237 P......Page 239 S......Page 240 Z......Page 241 "In The Price of Assimilation, Jeffrey Sposato offers a bold, revisionist account of composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's relationship to his Jewish roots. Sposato challenges the notion that Mendelssohn's identity was strongly informed by a sense of Jewishness, a view that came into currency in the aftermath of the Holocaust. As scholars since then have rightly noted, Mendelssohn was born Jewish and not converted to Protestantism until age seven, his grandfather was the famous Jewish reformer and philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and his music was banned by the Nazis, who clearly viewed him as a Jew. But these facts tell only part of the story." "Through a mix of cultural analysis, biographical study, and a close examination of original sources and drafts of Mendelssohn's sacred works, The Price of Assimilation provides dramatic new answers to the so-called "Mendelssohn Jewish question.""--Jacket Sposato offers a revisionist account of Mendelssohn's relationship to his Jewish roots. He challenges the notion that the composer's identity was strongly informed by a sense of Jewishness & argues that for much of his career Mendelssohn consciously attempted to distance himself from his Jewish heritage AS MENDELSSOHN AND MENDELSSOHN STUDIES have enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years, much discussion has centered around elements of the composer's identity. New Christians The St. Matthew Passion revival Moses Paulus Elias Christus