The violin opuses by F. Mendelssohn: the synthesis of tradition and innovation.
F. Mendelssohn’s spiritual way, the influence of the cultural environment upon the crystallization of the composer’s aesthetic and mu-sical views, which stipulated the development of his individual style, have been defined as full of different creative relationships. The young genius’ mentor, the theorist C. Zelter, cultivated love for the Vienna classicism and the Baroque her-itage in the child prodigy (as he himself was the admirer of the ancient music). The home concerts, which were initiated by Felix’s mother and which were featur-ing the outstanding philosophers, poets, composers, performers, were the source of different kinds of knowledge for the young musician. Meeting the representa-tives of the opposite artistic principles L. Spohr and N. Paganini let F. Mendels-sohn define his own artistic position, thereby having united their views in the art. The child prodigy started composing for the violin before meeting the famous violinists. The “childish” nature of those images, created with the support of the past experience, is hiding the author’s individuality, nonetheless, their performing thesaurus, on one hand, reflects the violin art anthology as if in the mirror, and, on the other hand, it anticipates his future. The very time when F. Mendelssohn lived is unique because of a peculiar kind of the “border” of the tendencies in the art. The Baroque music shows itself in church concerts, the classic traditions ha-ven’t lost the general interest yet, and the romantic perception of the world starts “inflaming” the musicians’ hearts. For the outstanding German the information around him is a certain “musical dictionary of the epoch” (B. Astafiev), as he is freely operating different stylistic elements in his early opuses. For example, “the intonation plot” (I. Barsova) of the orchestra preamble Allegrofrom the Con-certo d-moll(1822) consists of several semantic-and-stylistic components. And if the unison, rising recitative exclamation of the prelude, creates the atmosphere of Concerti grossiby G. F. Handel, the lyrical theme with its nagging chromatic moves brings the perceptible contrast at the figurative level. The composer settles the return of the Baroque rhetoric by using the corresponding tremolo accompa-niment in tune with W. A. Mozart’s divertissements. The similar allusions to the Vienna outstanding classic’s style appear in the border parts of the Sonata f-moll (1823). And with it, the cadence prelude-epigraph, marked by a kind of some emotional instability, influences the semantics of the whole cycle. Such a solution of the composer goes back to the tradition of concerti grossi, picked up by L. Bee-thoven. Unlike Piano sonata d-mollor. 31 # 2 (1804) by the Vienna classic, where the comparison between Largoand Allegrolays the basis for the future conflict, F. Mendelssohn realizes the recitative in a lyrical key while forming the mood of the composition in whole. The melancholic Allegro moderato, the contemplative Poco adagiowith a dramatic center and the scherzo Allegro agitatoform a pe-culiar field for the author’s reasoning. The closing cadence at the end brings the audience back to the prelude atmosphere by creating a certain semantic “arch” with the first part. The coda establishing the optimistic mood turns into the state of uncertainty, insolvability because of the cycle-finalizing descending intonations. This way F. Mendelssohn strives for the one-part composition integrity without destroying the structure typical for the classic sonata. The present tendency will find its continuation in the late Violin concerto e-moll(1844) and anticipate the creation of poem-ness. F. Mendelssohn, as well as N. Paganini, uses one or another techne, in accor-dance with the intended image and semantic idea. It is known that the name of the Italian maestro is connected with the new stage of the violin technique develop-ment, highlighting the “difficulties play”. Meanwhile, N. Paganini himself didn’t “invent” anything; his “innovations” are concluded in the high concentration of the performance approaches, in the re-consideration of their meaning and drama-turgic functions. F. Mendelssohn wasn’t drawn to the virtuosity of the representa-tive type; his name is not connected with the process of the performance thesaurus broadening. Having realized the central idea produced by the outstanding Italian, he was able to anticipate the priorities of the future violin art, the essence of which is defined by the supremacy of the idea and artistic task. All said doesn’t belittle F. Mendelssohn’s input into the achievements of the violinists of the 19 th centu-ry. Some fragments of his compositions have a number of technical difficulties; sometimes they are even more difficult in the context of the image content. For ex-ample, in the first part of the Concerto e-molldifferent moves of such a spread octave reflect the variety of semantic characteristics. In the beginning of the ex-position they provide the melody with the declamation features, further in the melodic account – with the excited tone. In the culmination zone of Allegro, molto appassionatothe intervals acquire dramatic qualities, especially in the cadence account. F. Mendelssohn’s previsions are proved by the wide-spread use of these approaches by J. Sibelius in the Concerto d-moll(1903–1905), presented in the beginning of the 20 th century. The novelty of the early romantic’s thinking is found out in comparison with the Violin Concerto D-dur(1806) by L. Beethoven. If the Vienna classic’s techneis united in an integrated image beginning and has a com-mon non-personal feature, F. Mendelssohn provides it with a certain emotional shade in each specific case. He interprets the stroke of arpeggiothe same way – individually. The originality of this approach is especially tangible in the jumping variant, in particular, in the cadence and fragment from the third part of the Con-certo e-moll. In the first caprice (1802–1817) by N. Paganini it is the key means to create the sound image and because of this it is perceived as something new, besides the present stroke can be also found in the cadence from the Twelfth Con-certo by P. Locatelli, first published in 1721.The violin opuses by F. Mendelssohn create a certain informational field of time – paying tribute to the tradition, the early romantic is keeping abreast of the evolutional processes around him. Having perceived the artistic essence of N. Paganini’s outstanding instrumentalism, he didn’t stop at an external virtuosity, but realized its true semantics. The details of such nature explain the interaction between the “centrifugal” and “centripetal” forces (V. Bobrovskiy) in F. Mendels-sohn’s creative works; the forces which defined one of the persistent traditions in the musical art of the next decades.