Mendelssohn as Muse

Description

Mendelssohn as Muse: A Storytelling Event
Writers Robin Hemley, Daniel Khalastchi, Amy Margolis, and Sabrina Orah Mark, will read short first-person stories inspired by the Mendelssohn’s magnificent Op. 13 String Quartet, with performance of that piece by the Solera Quartet interspersed between the stories.

Mendelssohn wrote this quartet several months after the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, and the influence of Beethoven’s late string quartets is evident in this work. As a unifying motif, Mendelssohn included a quotation from his song “Ist es wahr?” (‘Is it true?’, op. 9 no. 1) – “Is it true that you wait for me in the arbour by the vineyard wall?” – composed a few months earlier. Mendelssohn includes the title of the song in the score of the quartet, recalling the title Beethoven wrote on the last movement of his Op. 135 string quartet “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). The original inspiration, “Ist es wahr?” will be performed by singer and Iowa City native Meagan Brus during the performance.