Concerto principles in the piano duos by F. Mendelssohn.
Similar to his contemporaries F. Schubert and K. M. Weber, F. Mendelssohn did not avoid the piano ensemble music, preferring the pieces for 4 hands and concerto opuses for 2 pianos with orchestra. While the genre of concerto involved the vast range of images, composition of the whole, and virtuosity, numerous piano pieces at the first glance were closely related to the aesthetics of the Biedermeier. The pieces created by F. Mendelssohn, which did not seem to be of virtuoso style, reflect the ambitions of the artists, who lived during that period to enrich the interaction experience with the audience. The key to understanding of this phenomenon lies in the nature of the ensemble music, which presupposes partnership relations between its participants. The presence of the two personalities refreshed the action of the playing performance logic with its attributes, such as competi-tiveness, dialog-like structure, exposure of each participant’s skills, combination of the initial structures etc. At the same time, one of the components is represented by the concerto principle, which brings the features of representativeness, outward orientation (targeting the other ensemble participant as well) even with unpreten-tious pianistic characteristics of the music piece. The ‘Andante & Variations’ by F. Mendelssohn op. 83a is considered as a typical example of the common mu-sic-making; however, the peculiarities of the image-context ground, which reveal themselves within the rich semantic contrasts enforced by the specific genre mes-sages and stylistic allusions, as well as the multicolor texture give reasons to con-sider the concerto principle as the institution for the ensemble music. ‘Andante’ is built on the exchange of phrases, resembling an opera dialog. Dissociation of the timbre fields (bass – soprano), intensity and relative independence of the themes in each part, completeness of the music phrase, absence of the accompaniment techniques even with the concluding interfusion of both parts not only highlight the equality of the ‘dialog’ participants, but also contain the elements of a contest deep within – similar to two people voicing their opinion on a selected topic. This dissociation continues in the 1 st variation ‘Cantabile’, where the differen-tiation of the texture voices helps bring forward the music ‘relief and setting’ pre-serving the technique of ‘different ways of conduct’. Similar to ‘Andante’, where the initiative was passed from one part of another, a reply in ‘Primo’ is given by the no less expressive part. The next two variations (Nr. 3 and 4) uniquely stand as a duplicate or a mirror reflection of the genre-thematic ideas, resembling the famous counterpoints in ‘The Art of Fugue’ by J. S. Bach. They both demonstrate the traditional interexchange of the dramatic functions, assigning the melody to one part, and the accompaniment to another. However, their texture features bear evidence of association of the vari-ous genre models: ‘etude’ and ‘song without words’. F. Mendelssohn discloses their many possibilities, creating the inner space for the concerto principle of a unique kind. Under these conditions each part becomes relatively independent, which opens the way for the performers to show their technical and cantilena skills. The final variation becomes the cluster of the dramatic imagery, which is de-livered through the ‘tragic’ parallel minor, the tremolo technique, the intonation of a breath, the colorful dynamic range of expressions, the gradual complication of the texture up to the massive octave progression etc. Here we can confidently speak about the orchestral sounding, as all intonational motives are clearly dis-played with the timbre-register highlighting of their semantics. The last variation is extended, and together with the varied theme of ‘Andante’ and the concluding massive coda Allegro assai vivacecombines into the 3-part concerto form, where the 1 st part is a dramatic one, the 2 nd – lyrical, the 3 rd – energetic virtuosic final. It should be noted that the coda is concordant with the similar parts in scherzos and ballads by F. Chopin, which therefore does not allow us to implicitly treat ‘Andan-te & Variations’ by F. Mendelssohn as a common music piece. These thoughts are proved by ‘Allegro Brilliante’ op. 92, where the concerto principles appear not only on the level of technical skills, requiring the ensem-ble performers to have a high virtuoso experience. The continuous change of the imagery ranges of expressions, assembled by the personalized texture, presence of the synchronically exposed chromatic passages, arpeggios with the intercep-tion technique, broken motion, cantilena enriched by the texture-harmonic voices, octaves and chords with staccatoarticulation, altogether multiplied by the fast tempo are called to create the multicolor sparkling picture. Considering the fact that a dialog-contest is the keystone of the concerto principle, F. Mendelssohn utilizes all its resources for displaying both the imagery antithesis and the pianistic performance skills of each ensemble participant. The concerto tone of this music piece is concluded by the coda, resembling a perpetuum mobilein the tempo of Prestoand being distinctive for its register diversity in both parts, which is espe-cially seen during the solo phrases. From this point of view one can even imagine it being played on two pianos, since the music of ‘Allegro’ even visually lacks the keyboard of only one piano. The interpretation of the large music pieces for 4 hands by F. Mendelssohn in the concerto style becomes obvious while comparing them with his Concertos for 2 pianos, imbued with a spirit of virtuosity, displaying a variety of the stylistic techniques, maintaining the atmosphere of a contest between the equally skilled partners. Considering the fact that the pieces for 4 hands appeared almost 20 years since their creation, they inherited the experience of the instrumental concerto, revealing both the ability for the genre diffusion and the mastery of F. Mendels-sohn to accomplish the idea of competitiveness, which reflects one of the defining features of the romantic individual creative conscious.