Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4, "Italian"

How does a composer capture the spirit of a country, especially
if it's not his native land?  Mendelssohn, in his Italian
Symphony, gives us one of the best examples of someone doing just
that, giving us a tightly integrated, yet highly independent set
of 4 snapshots from his travels all over Italy.  And yet,
despite the piece being called the Italian Symphony and being
indelibly associated with the country, the symphony remains a
relatively traditional 4 movement German classical
symphony.  What we hear then is a brilliant amalgamation of
a symphony and a tone poem that is among the first of its kind.
 The symphony tells no story, has no narrative, and yet,
when we finish the breathless Tarantella that ends the piece, we
feel like we’ve been flicking through a photo album of Felix’s
vacation, smiling (mostly) all along the way. Today we’ll talk
all about how Mendelssohn builds this symphony and how each
movement captures such a distinctive character, while remaining
Mendelssohnian to its core - kind, warm-hearted, and full of
bubbling energy. Join us!