The painting "Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn" resides at the Magnes. Courtesy The Magnes Collection.
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life’s latest exhibition, From Mendelssohn To Mendelssohn: German Jewish Encounters in Art, Music, and Material Culture, opened on January 25, 2016. The opening night featured a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.2 in C minor, Op.66 (1845), by Roger Moseley on a historic Erard Grand Piano from 1854, accompanied by Hrabba Atladottir on the violin, and Hannah Addario-Berry on thehe cello. Guests’ tours of the gallery were accompanied byy a live performance of Mendelssohn's “Songs Without Words,” performed on a historic Wieck Grand Piano in rosewood (No. 819, Dresden, ca. 1860) by UC Berkeley students and instructors from Professors Nicholas Mathew and James Davies's Pianism seminar. The opening night was attended by over 300 people. I
The exhibition reawakens the history of the Mendelssohn family, including the lives and works of the scholar Moses Mendelssohn and his grandchildren, composers Fanny (1805-1847) and Felix (1809-1847), by activating the extensive holdings of German-Jewish ritual art, prints, rare volumes, manuscripts, and material culture. From Mendelssohn To Mendelssohn is a collaboration of the University of California, Berkeley’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanties, the Departments of History and Music, and The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life.
Francesco Spagnolo, the curator of the exhibition and the Magnes Collection, said of the opening night: “It truly exemplified the promise of The Magnes as a venue for engaging the public in partnership with the academic community of the University to perpetuate the identity, continuity, and heritage of the Jewish people. The Magnes is exceedingly grateful to the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture for its seminal support in helping establish this institution and making events like last night possible.”
Throughout the exhibition’s run from January 26 – June 24, 2016, a full program of talks and performances will be featured.
For the program and more information, please visit:
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
