When discussing classical musical prodigies, two stand above the rest — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn.

Thanks to the Oscar-winning film “Amadeus,” Mozart has made his way into the pop lexicon. But when it comes to who was responsible for writing the most familiar piece of music, Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” takes the cake, if you will pardon the metaphor.

So when Maestro Peter Bay, now 11 years as the conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, addressed the Viewpoints Speaker-Dinner Series Oct. 24 at the Lakeway Activity Center, it was Mendelssohn who was the subject of his affections.
Bay is a fickle in his love of composers — he tends to like the one he’s currently conducting best.
Right now, he has Mendelssohn on his mind. The ASO will be teaming up with the Conspirare Symphonic Choir at the Michael & Susan Dell Hall Nov. 20-21. The concert will feature Mendelssohn’s “Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” inspired by William Shakespeare’s classic.
“Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1809 —and he was only alive for 36 years,” Bay said. “That is just one year longer than Mozart, a year longer than Franz Schubert, and he was about the same age as George Gershwin, when he passed away. What links all these great names is that they produced extraordinarily great music in a short lifespan.”
Bay said this was particularly true of Mozart and Mendelssohn, because they were child prodigies.
“In the mind of many music historians, Mendelssohn may be the greater of the two prodigies,” Bay said. “Mozart may have began writing at a slightly earlier age than Mendelssohn — he wrote his first symphony at five years of age and his first opera at nine — but the gift Mendelssohn had was to write music that did not sound like a child had written it.”
Mendelssohn’s grandfather was famous Jewish philosopher — Moses Mendelssohn. Born Ben Mendel — the son of Mendel. He had a significant influence on the “Jewish Enlightenment. When translated into German, the name became Mendelssohn, which would become the family name. When Felix Mendelssohn was five years old, his father converted and became a Lutheran.
It has long been debated what motivated the religious conversion — one thing is certain — the Lutheran Church was at the xanguard of the Enlightenment. Even though his grandfather had been an influential Jewish philosopher, Mendelssohn’s father made the jump.
Mendelssohn was prolific from an early age. By the age if 16 he wrote his String Octet in E-flat major. His Overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written a year later, is the best known of his early works. But it was an early work, and 16 year later he augmented his Overture, which would include the immortal Wedding March.
Bay conveys his enthusiasm for his work with ease. As he listens to the music, he falls into a meditative state, slightly raising his arms as if he were to cue the French Horns.
When asked about his clear love of music, his answer was simple and direct.
“It is a wonderful thing to be a musician, and I have always felt fortunate that this skill came my way,” Bay said.
Many classical musicians can be introspective — but not Bay — he shares his love of the music with the exuberance of first discovery. And that may not be far off from the truth. By his own admission, he sees new nuances to each piece he conducts each and every time he opens it up.
His love for music is obvious. Better still, it is infections.
Despite all his training, one might think Bay might be jaded by this point in his career. Not so, although he has ever reason to be. A native of Washington, D.C., Bay is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Peabody Institute. In 1994, he was one of two conductors selected to participate in the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Program. He was also the first prize-winner of the 1980 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Young Conductors Competition and a prize winner of the 1987 Leopold Stokowski Competition sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra in New York. Bay made his Austin Lyric Opera debut in January 2002 with Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, conducted Verdi’s La Traviata in November 2002, Puccini’s Turandot in November 2003, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in April 2005.
It is a resume that would pop the buttons of a lesser person. Yet Bay is down-to-earth. His quest is to share his love of classical music with those not yet indoctrinated to the art form.
Call the ASO box office for tickets at 1-888-4MAESTRO.