Felix Mendelssohn Bio

                Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor 

        of the Early Romantic period.   Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano 

         music, organ music and chamber music.  His best-known works include the overture and incidental 

         music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (including his "Wedding March"), the Italian Symphony 

         (Symphony No. 4), the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3), the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio 

         Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto and the String Octet. The melody 

        for the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is also his. Mendelssohn's Songs Without 

        Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.

                Mendelssohn's grandfather was the renowned Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, but 

        Felix was initially raised without religion.  He was baptized at the age of seven, becoming a 

        Reformed Christian.  He was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious 

        and did not seek to capitalize on his talent.  His sister Fanny Mendelssohn received a similar musical 

        education and was a talented composer and pianist in her own right; some of her early songs were 

        published under her brother's name and her Easter Sonata was for a time mistakenly attributed to 

        him after being lost and rediscovered in the 1970s.
 
                Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and revived interest in the music of Johann 

        Sebastian Bach, notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829.  He was well 

        received in his travels throughout Europe as a composer, conductor and soloist; his ten visits to 

        Britain – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his 

        adult career.  His essentially conservative musical tastes set him apart from more adventurous 

        contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Hector Berlioz.  

        The Leipzig Conservatory, which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.  

        Mendelssohn died at age 38 from a series of strokes six months after Fanny died from the same 

         cause.

 

                After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism  

        in the late 9th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has been re-evaluated.  He is now 

        among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.