Early Music—Reimagined: L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra—Michi Gaigg

Music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

“My dearest sister! I wish I were a zander; for besides the fine taste—which I am very keen on and which is innate to all zanders—you also have the privilege of bathing all day long, and the water is 22°. [...] In short, they are happy creatures compared to me,” wrote Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in a letter to his sister Fanny on July 7, 1826.

From these lines, we can glimpse just how much effort composing cost Mendelssohn. As performers and as an audience, we consider ourselves as fortunate as the zander!