Mendelssohn’s Performances of the ‘Matthäus-Passion’: Considerations of the Documentary Evidence

Although the importance of Mendelssohn’s revival of Bach’s Matthäus-Passion was recognized in his lifetime, it is only in the past half-century that much of the source material for it has become available. A number of scholars have written on it since then, but their contributions are subject to correction and supplementation. This article focuses first on the preparations for the 1829 Berlin performances, with particular attention paid to the evidence offered by the orchestral parts, which often reveal differences from Mendelssohn’s score, partly reflecting changes in the course of rehearsal. Secondly, a comprehensive account is provided of Mendelssohn’s performance of the work at Leipzig in 1841, for which he made a number of significant changes, a performance which received less public attention at the time, and which has hitherto not been examined in detail in the literature.