‘Stylistically conservative and expressivelyreserved.’

Does this assessment ofMendelssohn’s writing, by musicologist andcritic Richard Taruskin, stand up in the face ofan analysis of the composer’s late, emotionallydriven String Quartet Op. 80 (born out of griefand despair at the early death of his sister,Fanny)?

Professor Julian Horton, a specialistin the analysis and reception of nineteenthcenturyinstrumental music and the theory oftonality, considers the arguments with musicalillustrations from Ensemble 360.