Artists of Schumann's Era

Please note that the speaker and theme of this talk have changed from the advertised programme

Felix Mendelssohn and his relationship with Robert Schumann

A talk given by Peter Ward Jones, former head of the Music Section of the Bodleian Library

This talk will explore Mendelssohn’s connexion with Robert Schumann, during the twelve years of their  acquaintanceship in Leipzig between 1835 and 1847. Although Schumann recorded many impressions and opinions of Mendelssohn, far less is known of the latter’s thoughts on his contemporary, and it is on this aspect of the relationship that the talk will concentrate.

Peter Ward Jones

Peter Ward Jones retired in 2009 after forty years as Head of the Music Section of the Bodleian Library, where his responsibilities included curatorship of the Library's remarkable Mendelssohn collection. He became a Fellow of St Cross College, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the new collected edition of Mendelssohn's works. His many publications on the composer include an edition of the illustrated diary that Mendelssohn and his wife kept jointly during their honeymoon and first months of marriage in 1837. Other scholarly interests include eighteenth-century English music and the history of music publishing, and in 2012 he edited the orchestral works of George Butterworth for Musica Britannica. A former organ scholar of Balliol College, he has also remained active as organist and harpsichordist, and his recitals have included the complete Bach organ works.