Mozart and Mendelssohn: The Sonata da chiesa — a “Phoenix” of Baroque Forms

Abstract

Scholars studying Mendelssohn’s music, in Russia, as well as in other countries, have often noted the manifested features of bringing in stylistic traits of Bach’s music in the composer’s works, leaving out the phenomenon of bringing in the stylistic peculiarities of Mozart’s music in the artistic legacy of the founder of the Leipzig Conservatoire. To fill in this gap, we believe that it is possible to demonstrate through the prism of the sonata da chiesa genre precisely the line of succession from Mozart to Mendelssohn. Such a step is justified by the fact that Mozart’s church sonatas, as well as Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonatas op. 65 were types of “phoenixes” (this is how Robert Schumann characterizes Mendelssohn’s turn to baroque genres) that burst forth in the composers’ works, seemingly, without any prior conditions. At the same time, both Mozart and Mendelssohn show a simultaneous adherence to tradition and experimentation, which each of them brings to the church sonata. It was perhaps Mozart’s genius with his interest in the sonata da chiesa genre that inspired Mendelssohn to combine further the features of the church sonata with those of the classical solo instrumental sonata, leading to the flourishing of the solo organ sonata that we see with the publication of the Organ Sonatas op. 65 (1845) by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Keywords: Church sonata, sonata da chiesa, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, organ, organ sonatas