Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 (“Italian”)

The "Italian" Symphony is the fourth of Mendelssohn's five numbered symphonies but he actually composed seventeen symphonies, many of them youthful works for strings.  Of the final five, the seldom-heard Lobgesang (“Hymn of Praise”) (no. 2, but last in order of composition) is a huge work with a choral finale modelled after Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  Mendelssohn's Symphonies 3, 4 and 5, respectively titled the Scotch, Italian and Reformation, are not specifically programmatic but convey a mood or an impression of time or place.

Mendelssohn commenced the composition of the Italian Symphony in 1831, the inspiration furnished from an extended tour of England, Scotland, Italy and France at that time.  The work was first performed in 1833, revised during the years 1835 to 1837 and was only published in 1851 after the composer's death.  Of all his symphonies, the Italian best captures the youthful exuberance evident in the beloved Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture.

The first movement allegro vivace is bright, cheerful and full of joy, leaping into its principal theme at the outset with all the energy that Mendelssohn saw in the people of Italy.  The first notes of this theme form a motif that dominates the movement. 

Someone other than the composer applied the title, "Pilgrims' March" to the second movement, but Tovey says, "There is no difficulty in tracing the main idea of this movement to a religious procession which we know Mendelssohn did see in the streets of Naples".  The main idea in question is presented, after a short introduction, by the oboe, bassoons and violas.

The third movement con moto moderato bears the structure and time signature of a scherzo but not the name.  It has been described as outdoors music which early writers suggested was borrowed from an earlier work but no-one has been able to identify the source.  The finale, a presto, is a dance called a Saltarello, described by the annotator, Charles O'Connell, as "a rather rowdy and certainly vigorous performance, done by men and women in pairs, in which arms and legs are used as violently, if not inelegantly as possible.  The dancers circle about, approaching and retreating, with the woman manipulating her apron, now in inviting gestures, again as if to repel her suitor.  Meanwhile rapid and exhausting steps, with hops and skips, soon have the dancers breathless."  This is a good description of the music.