Mendelssohn and the Jewish Enlightenment – VF at the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020

14/06/2021, 10:00 am - 11:00 am

We are delighted to share the video recording with Avi Lifschitz, our Academic Programme Director’s contribution to the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020!

The Bodleian Libraries house one of two major collections of Felix Mendelssohn’s manuscripts, the other being in Berlin. Martin Holmes, Alfred Brendel Curator of Music at the Bodleian, shows us some of these important scores, letters, and paintings, and tells the story of how they ended up in Oxford.

Within our wide-ranging exploration of the Enlightenment, Philip Bullock is joined by Avi Lifschitz, Professor of History at Magdalen College, whose research explores the intellectual and cultural history of Europe in the long eighteenth century (c. 1680-1815). They delve into the ideas of the Jewish Enlightenment and to what extent Felix, grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, was influenced by this.

Throughout the event, we hear some of Mendelssohn’s songs performed by two exceptional young musicians from the Royal Academy of Music.

Avi Lifschitz (Speaker)

Philip Ross Bullock (Speaker)

Martin Holmes (Speaker)

Magnus Walker (Tenor)

Gus Tredwell (Pianist)

Presented in association with TORCH, with support from the Humanities Cultural Programme, and the Bodleian Libraries.

This event was broadcast as part of the online Oxford Lieder Festival in October 2020.