Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a German Jewish banker and philanthropist, born Abraham Mendelssohn 10th December 1776 in Berlin, died there 19th December 1835. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... (Redirected from 10th December) December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 1776. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... (Redirected from 19th December) December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Abraham Mendelssohn Bartoldy

Son of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, father of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, Abraham Mendelssohn is supposed to have complained to a friend Once I was the son of a famous father, now I am the father of a famous son. Moses Mendelssohn. ... Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy at the age of thirty Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, known generally as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer of the early Romantic period. ...

By the time of Moses's death in 1786 the Mendelssohn family was well-established and wealthy. In line with Moses's ideas that German Jews should participate in German as well as Jewish culture Abraham had a liberal education. He was a member of the Jewish liberal society Gesellschaft der Freunde founded by his brother Joseph in 1792, but also of the Berlin Singakademie founded in 1793. In 1796 his future wife Lea Salomon, a granddaughter of Daniel Itzig also joined the Akademie; but they had probably met before that. 1786 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... Daniel Itzig was born in 1723 and died in 1799. ...

In 1797 Abraham went to study banking in Paris at the behest of his brother Joseph, who had formed the banking house of Mendelssohn and Friedlaender in association with Itzig's son-in-law, David Friedlander. French life did not appeal to him. In 1804 Abraham married Lea in Hamburg, where he managed an office of the family bank. Somewhere around this time he seems to have acquired from Lea's acquaintance the musician Poelchau a number of mansucripts of C. P. E. Bach, (of whom Poelchau was the executor)which he gave to his aunt, the musician Sara Levy, who subsequently donated them to the Singakademie. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Hamburgs central promenade Jungfernstieg on the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 Hamburg is Germanys second largest city (after Berlin) and, with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... Many of the the thirteen children of Daniel Itzig and Miriam Wulff, and their descendants and spouses, had significant impact on both Jewish and German social and cultural (especially musical) history. ...

Abraham took an uncompromising attitude towards his Jewish origins. He felt that the day of Judaism was over and that it was necessary to take practical steps to assimilate with German society. To this end he and Lea took the (then) daring decision not to have their son Felix circumcised after his birth in 1809, although this led to argumets with Lea's mother. He further took the advice of Lea's brother Joseph to change his surname. Joseph had adopted the name Bartholdy after a property which he had acquired, and Abraham too chose to take this name. As he was to write later to Felix, (urging his son to drop the Mendelssohn name and use only Bartholdy), because of the fame of Moses Mendelssohn there can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish Confucius. (Despite this, Felix continued to use both names himself, and his public tended to use only 'Mendelssohn'). Abraham's children were brought up at first without any religious education; they were baptised in 1816, and Abraham and Lea were baptised on 4th October 1822 in Frankfurt-on-Main, that is, well away from their friends and relatives in Berlin. This article is being rewritten at Circumcision/temp Circumcision is the removal of some or all of the prepuce or foreskin though often the frenulum is also excised. ... 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 1822 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Frankfurt am Main [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hessen and the fifth largest city of Germany. ...

Grave of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn Bartholdy

In 1811 the French occupation of Hamburg and decline of trade caused Abraham and his family to return to Berlin. Both Felix and his elder sister Fanny, born 1804, showed signs of remarkable musical talent and this was encouraged in both of them, although Abraham felt, conventionally, that whilst it might lead to a career for Felix it could only be a pastime for Fanny. He entrusted Felix to the tuition of Carl Friedrich Zelter, who in 1801 had taken over the direction of the Singakademie. He later engaged the pianist Ignaz Moscheles to give his children some lessons, and this led to a lasting association between Moscheles and the family. When Felix made his first visit to England in 1829 Abraham entrusted him to Moscheles's care; and when Abraham himself later visited London he stayed with Moscheles. The Mendelssohn household in Berlin was often the setting for concerts and at many of these semi-domestic occasions the early music of Felix was performed and Felix and Fanny themselves played. 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832) was a German composer. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... Ignaz Moscheles (May 23, 1794–March 10, 1870) was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso. ... 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Abraham and Lea had two other children: Rebecka (b. 1811), who married the mathematician Dirichlet and Paul (b. 1812). In 1825 Abraham was elected as a town councillor for Berlin. 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (February 13, 1805 - May 5, 1859) was a German mathematician credited with the modern formal definition of a function. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Abraham and his wife are buried close to their children in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Berlin.

Background

• Sebastian Hensel, tr. Carl Klingemann 'The Mendelssohn Family 1729-1847', 4th ed. 2 vols, London 1884