Mendelssohn – Italian Symphony – Part 2 [ANALYSIS]

Con moto moderato

Should you need a score you can find one here.

To be honest, this is the movement that speaks less Italian to me.
It’s somewhere near a lovely courtly menuet, which would sit well in Venice as much as in Vienna. The structure is a clear ABA with a coda. The first theme is presented by the violins in octaves. It’s curious though that they enter alone.

Almost like a 2 bars introduction, following the pattern of the first 2 movements. In fact, we’re starting on the dominant, and when the other strings join in on bar 3 they remain on the dominant harmony. The A major only arrives on the 5th bar

A little weight is added by the entrance of the horns and the double basses on bars 8 and 9