In the summer of 1829, German composer Felix Mendelssohn was touring Scotland in the company of a friend from Berlin who held a post in London. He saw all the sights: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Inverness, Loch Lomond, and the Hebrides Islands. He was not impressed by the food or friendliness of the somewhat surly natives, but he loved the Scottish scenery.

Mendelssohn made a point of paying a courtesy call on the famous novelist Sir Walter Scott, whose Romantic historical tales of love and tragedy were wildly popular throughout Europe in Mendelssohn’s day. And very likely, it was through the Romantic filter of Scott’s novels that Mendelssohn viewed the Scottish landscape.

On today’s date, they visited the ruined castle of Mary Queen of Scots, and Mendelssohn wrote back to his family back in Germany: “In darkening twilight today, we went to the Palace of Holyrood where Queen Mary lived and loved. The chapel has lost its roof and is overgrown with grass and ivy, and at that broken altar Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything there is ruined, decayed and open to the clear sky. I believe that I have found there today the beginning of my Scottish Symphony.”

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Symphony No. 3 (Scottish); London Symphony; Peter Maag, conductor; London 466 990