Konzert in e für Violine und Orchester, Op.64

This edition presents the piano reduction of Mendelssohn's authorized version of his Violin Concerto in E minor, op, 64, and forms a companion volume to the Bärenreiter edition of the full score of the 1844 and 1845 versions, where the reader may find a review of the compositional history of the concerto and discussion of the primary sources. Having finished the first draft in Frankfurt in September 1844, Mendelssohn soon began to contemplate revisions, and in the following months consulted the violinist Ferdinand David, concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, about numerous details affecting the solo part. In December, in the midst of these discussions, the composer asked his Leipzig publisher, Breitkopfopf & Härtel, to commission a piano reduction of the orchestral score, with the specific requirement that two staves be left blank beneath the piano part to accommodate corrections. We do not know who prepared the piano part, but within weeks it was ready and sent on January 18 to Mendelssohn in Frankfurt; he corrected and returned the reduction on January 25, along with a "Zettelchen" with instructions for the engraver. Now lost, these materials served as the Stichvo