Mendelssohn vs. Schumann

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Tough choise. Both have excellent symphonies, amazing violin concerto (Schumann's unduly neglected, at least compared to Mendelssohn's), much powerful and innovative chamber music (again Schumann's noticeably more neglected, outside of his piano quintet) and beautiful songs. While their musical style is quite different from each other I for some reason almost always think of these two composers in same breath. That does not mean I don't appreciate their music because I do. But which one is better? Well, this is one of those times when I have to say that to me it's a tie. They both have their strengths as well as weaknesses.

[Ken B]

This will be a slaughter.

[jochanaan]

It's really a close call.  And since Schumann and Mendelssohn were such good friends and had such mutual respect, it's not a fair poll.  But I voted for Mendelssohn.  I feel that his music is more fully realized than Schumann's, more consistently good even if less experimental.  Yet Mendelssohn was not above changing received tradition.  He was an early advocate of transitions between movements--mostly because he didn't like his concertos etc. to be interrupted by applause! And his orchestration is a little more assured than Schumann's and more gratifying to the players.

Or maybe I just voted for Felix because I like to help underdogs.

[TheGSMoeller]

They did a study...60% of the time, Schumann wins every time.

[North Star]

They did a study...60% of the time, Schumann wins every time.

74.2%, actually.

[Jo498]

I refuse to vote, but Schumann wins for me, although not by much. I'd rate their orchestral and chamber music about equally, maybe with a slight nod to Mendelssohn. His quartets op.44 (which inspired Schumann's op.41) maybe a little shallow, but he has three great ones anyway, then the octett, string quintets, trios. The wonderful ouvertures may be even better than the symphonies and while I like Schumann's symphonies as well, I think his 2nd and 3rd are rather uneven.
Mendelssohn's choral works are superior (although Schumann's "Paradies und die Peri" has some wonderful stuff and very successful in its time).
But in the end, Schumann's great piano music and lieder tower over Mendelssohn's contributions to these genres. Although there is some nice stuff by Mendelssohn which tends to get neglected, he has nothing as epochal and moving as Schumann's Dichterliebe or Kreisleriana, Carnaval, Davidsbündler, Fantasie etc.

Altogether, I think a lot of music by both of these deserved to be better known. Many listeners are mainly focused on symphonic and orchestral pieces and tend to prefer the later romantics. But some of the most important works of these two are not in these genres, but chamber, vocal and in Schumann's case, piano solo

[Scion7]

Love them both equally for different reasons, so, choosing not, I have chosen.   

I think that Mendelssohn's early symphonies are superior to Mozart's juvenile symphonies.
Of course, Wolfgang's number 34-41 sweep the floor with Mendelssohn.  :-)

[bwv 1080]

better call Saul...

[mszczuj]

Schumann  - his piano music has prevailed but I really appreciate Mendelssohn who was much more important composer than we usually think.

[Sammy]

I'm confident his numbers will go up soon.  Based on my perception of general consensus, the vote will be quite close.

I sure was wrong about this one, thinking that Mendelssohn is much more popular than the vote totals reveal.

[Scion7]

The one thing that tips Schumann over was his other activity as a very influential musical journalist in Germany.  Just by a hair.  The pleasure I get from Mendelssohn is very high.