[+] Mercer-Taylor, Peter Jameson. "Symphony and Cantata: Illusions of Identity in the Reformation Symphony." In "Mendelssohn and the Musical Discourse of the German Restoration," 103-37. Ph. D. diss., University of California at Berkeley, 1995.
During the time of the Bach revival he led, Mendelssohn modeled many of his compositions upon the style of J. S. Bach. Mendelssohn used J. S. Bach's setting of Ein feste Burg in the fourth movement of his "Reformation" Symphony and incorporated the chorale into a programmatic setting. Meyerbeer subjected Ein feste Burg to variation treatment interspersed with the typical structural elements of a sonata-form movement. With the bridge to the recapitulation, Meyerbeer blurred the formal distinctions between the chorale and the symphonic sonata movement in order to suggest a choral movement. This alludes to the choral movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, even though Meyerbeer does not actually use a chorus. The other movements also include quotations, including a Catholic "Dresden Amen" in the first movement and allusion to Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte in the second movement.
Works: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Reformation (111-37).
Sources: J. S. Bach: "Ein feste Burg" from In festo Reformationis, BWV 80 (112, 114-20, 122-24); Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (113); Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte (131-32).
Index Classifications: 1800s
Contributed by: Katie Lundeen
