Felix Jakob Ludwig Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - "Hebriden-Overtüre", Op26.

NBC Symphony Orchestra. Arturo Toscanini, conductor. ______________________________ In 1829 Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) had his first journey in the British Isles. He was particulary charmed by the wild northern-Scottish nature and the following year, inspired due to the visit at the so-called "Fingal's Cave" (an island that belong to the Hebrides archipelago), he began to work to his third Symphony ("Scottish Symphony"), that would be completed only during his author's second journey in Britain (1842), and composed his notorious concert-Ouverture "Die Hebriden", in B minor. It couldn't formally be considered as a Tone Poem because of the lack of a programme, but the opening theme, both epic and lyrical in mood, could be seen as a musical description of the lonely majesty of these isles. The second name of the work, "Fingalshöhle" ("Fingal's Cave") is authentic: it already appeared in the autograph score and it was replaced by the definitive one only in 1832, with Mendelssohn's own revision of the score.