Early Music Revival - 19th Century

19th Century

Felix Mendelssohn is often credited as an important figure in beginning the revival of music from the past. He conducted a famous performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion on March 11 1829, and that concert is cited as one of the most significant events in the early music revival, even though the performance used contemporary instruments and the work was presented in a greatly condensed version, leaving out a significant amount of Bach's music. Handel's Messiah, performed annually since it was composed in 1741, even with updated orchestrations by Mozart and others, is a work that shows a rare continuous line of performance that gradually defied early performance practice, only to be embraced by it in more recent years.