Overture : Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op.27

The first time Mendelssohn saw the sea was on a family holiday at Dobberan on the Baltic in 1824. As a precocious admirer of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, he probably knew by then his wonderfully evocative pair of maritime poems, Meeresstille and Glückliche Fahrt. The first (“Calm Sea”) is about the anxious sensation of being becalmed on a silent sea with not a breath of wind or a ripple on the surface of the water; the other (“Prosperous Voyage”) describes the clearing mist, the brightening sky, the wind rising to release the tension, the activity on board as the waves swell, the ship sails on and land comes into sight.

If at that time the young composer hadn’t yet come across Beethoven’s cantata Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage he clearly had when he came to write his overture with the same title four years later. The principal motif of the Prosperous Voyage section of Mendelssohn’s Overture, a pervasive four-note rhythmic figure, plays a prominent part in the equivalent section of the Beethoven cantata. There is something reminiscent of the earlier work also in Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea introduction, which is in the same key as Beethoven’s and which is similarly successful in creating an impression of eerie motionlessness.

Unlike Beethoven, however, Mendelssohn is very concerned to link the two sections – Adagio and Molto allegro e vivace in his case – not only by the D major tonality they have in common but also by thematic relationships. So the phrase heard on the double basses in the very first bars is an early manifestation of the four-note motif which is about to dominate the next section. A little later a chromatic descending phrase low on bassoons anticipates the first subject of the Prosperous Voyage. The transition from uneasy calm to hectic movement, beginning with a little flourish on the flute, is unmistakable. The rest of the voyage, which passes through a seascape not unlike that of the later Hebrides Overture, runs parallel to the well charted course of sonata form – until, with an extraordinary cadenza on timpani, land comes into sight and an official greeting is proclaimed in a fanfare of trumpets and horns.

Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage is based - like Beethoven’s cantata of the same name - on a pair of short poems by Goethe. The first, Meeresstille (“Calm Sea”), is about the anxious sensation of being becalmed on a silent sea with not a breath of wind or a ripple on the surface of the water. Glückliche Fahrt (“Prosperous Voyage”) describes the clearing mist, the brightening sky, the wind rising to release the tension, the activity on board as the waves swell, the ship sails on and land comes into sight.

The first time Mendelssohn had seen the sea was on a family holiday at Dobberan on the Baltic in 1824. As a precocious admirer of the poet, he probably knew the two Goethe poems at that time and if he hadn’t yet come across Beethoven’s cantata he clearly had when he came to write his own Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage in 1828. The principal motif of the Prosperous Voyage section of Mendelssohn’s Overture, a pervasive four-note rhythmic figure, plays a prominent part in the equivalent section of the Beethoven cantata. There is something reminiscent of the earlier work also in Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea introduction, which is in the same key as Beethoven’s and which is similarly successful in creating an impression of eerie motionlessness.

Unlike Beethoven, however, Mendelssohn is very concerned to link the two sections – Adagio and Molto allegro e vivace in his case – not only by the D major tonality they have in common but also by thematic relationships. So the phrase heard on the double basses in the very first bars is an early manifestation of the four-note motif which is about to dominate the next section. A little later a chromatic descending phrase low on bassoons anticipates the first subject of the Prosperous Voyage. The transition from uneasy calm to hectic movement, beginning with a little flourish on the flute, is unmistakable. The rest of the voyage, which passes through a seascape not unlike that of the later Hebrides Overture, runs parallel to the well charted course of sonata form – until, with an extraordinary cadenza on timpani, land comes into sight and an official greeting is proclaimed in a fanfare of trumpets and horns.

Gerald Larner ©2005