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Hello, my name is Helmut Mebert.
I have been playing the violin for 40 years with the Berlin Philharmonic and I am happy
to give you some advice by practicing a passage for your audition.
Today we will take the beginning of the first phrase of the Italian symphony
which was first performed in London in 1833.
The 24-year old Mendelssohn conducted this himself at the time
and wrote about this symphony:
"I have never composed anything so funny."
In all cases this holds true for the first movement.
It is a movement full of joie de vivre, full of a zest for life.
The beginning is similar to a very short introduction.
Without much ado the key - a bright, cheerful key in A-major - is presented.
With this pizzicato
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come these eighths in the winds, or
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in the high flutes.
Also, it gets more zestful
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and then we hear the theme.
There is nothing else before that.
But, during this pizzicato the ground has already been laid for these vivace notations.
And now to our main theme.
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It is important that we make these accents with energy.
If we had done this with force it would probably sound like this:
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This is not beautiful.
Better with energy, with an increased speed of bowing
and then withdraw the bow a bit at the end.
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Then the tone can reverberate.
If we stay at this angle, then the tone is dead.
Also:
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There is also a different fingering for the last bar and indeed when we go back:
3-2-1 and then we are in the second position.
This has the following advantage:
What follows now are namely two sequences and that is in the second position.
We play both sequences with the same fingering,
but once in the second and once in the fifth position.
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Methodically and musically it is often very useful
when we have the same sound sequences in different pitches.
So, sequences can also be played with the same fingering.
But, it does not have to be that way. We can also
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stay in the fourth position.
Then I would also advise
to go into the first position and over the empty high-E string.
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Don't play this final quarter too short.
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It is a quarter and should remain a quarter.
And now
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the endings are yet again a bit longer, namely a dotted quarter.
This can clearly be shown.
And this is for a good reason.
If we didn't do it like this
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we would have a piece here and a piece there and what would be missing?
The line would be missing.
In this joyful determination you have to keep the great line.
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When I said,
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play only the accents with increased speed,
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then that is only forte, not fortissimo.
But, now at the crescendo we can give it some pressure.
So, first only:
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and now this sforzato.
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A sforzato is only a sforzato when it is immediately quieter after the sforzato.
Then we also have the possibility of a clear crescendo,
which has to happen in two bars.
I exaggerate sometimes and will play slower:
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Also the last eighth in the bar is part of the crescendo.
Then we hear this play on the piano
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as if everything was just a joke.
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And this accent only a little trick.
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That is the first part.
Once more in context.
(begins)
One thing about the pizzicato:
It sounds best
when the inner surface of the left hand is far away from the fingerboard.
Then the pizzicato can sound further away in the room.
(begins)
Then it sounds like this:
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What follows now is somewhat of a delicate matter.
We have piano spiccato with uncomfortable string crossings.
To practice it would be best for us to assume really fast eighths
that stay on the strings and then we make the diminuendo
until the bow begins to vibrate by itself a little bit over the string,
without leaving the string too much into the height.
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Stay on the string, then diminuendo.
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Then we have it.
To practice I would suggest:
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That's it.
Practice the second passage just like this:
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This passage is also very sensitive
because during this passage nothing else is happening in the orchestra.
Only the cellos play the same but one octave lower.
This means you hear everything that could possibly go wrong.
In context it is likely so,
that the brass will play the head of the main theme and we will answer with this eighth note figure.
So:
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So it is.
Takt 43 looks very easy but will have this eighth pause
then the following eighths.
This eighth pause is ridiculously short.
In this tempo.
It practically starts already with the stroke on.
Often you start too late then hurry and become offset.
Before all it is covered no longer.
In the orchestra there are often eighth note triplets.
That must quite come so.
Now there is a lot of repetition.
I can say again, that in bar 51 of the main theme something looks different.
What was forte at the beginning, is now fortissimo.
Not only that: the beginning is legato.
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and now we have
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Really clear.
This can be seen as a confirmation of this initial,
this energy of youth,
that is inherent in this movement.
So:
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We already had this.
Now we start again freshly.
Why? Because we now have enough space and power.
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It is so much louder here; it will be played much more deeply in the orchestra.
That is why we need the entire bow.
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Here the sforzato is only in the first bar on the one, and not on the second bar anymore.
Nevertheless, we can also accentuate the one in the second bar,
because the winds blow a forte chord on each one of the two bars.
And otherwise, you would no longer be able to hear our beautiful violins.
So:
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Now
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a mordent on the key of A.
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Mordent is translated as »biting« in German.
We have to do that as well.
Simply something in the string bite,
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attack something then it comes out clear.
So when you arrive:
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It is not very easy in tempo.
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Again, pay attention to the sequence:
short eighth pauses (make tempo beforehand),
bar 67 and the following.
Now it's time for my final words.
If we emanate the stylistics from the Vienna Classical,
we would withdraw something from the end.
So:
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I think that this would be wrong here.
This conclusion is only again a confirmation of this Dionysian joy of life in the movement.
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And now thanks for listening, watching and as always:
Have fun practicing!