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 Jewish parentage of the early Romantic period. His work includes symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano and chamber music. After a long period of relative denigration, his creative originality is now being recognised and re-evaluated. Image File history File links Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy at the age of 30 in London watercolor painting by James Warren Childe (detail), 1839 (from english wiki) File links The following pages link to this file: Felix Mendelssohn ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... 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. ... The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ...

Life

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, the son of a banker, Abraham, who was himself the son of the famous Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, and of Lea Salomon, a member of the Itzig family. Abraham sought to renounce the Jewish religion; his children were first brought up without religious education, and were baptised as Lutherans in 1816. (Abraham and his wife were not themselves baptised until 1822). The name Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob, who had purchased a property of this name and adopted it as his own surname. Abraham was later to explain this decision in a letter to Felix as a means of showing a decisive break with the traditions of his father Moses: 'There can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish Confucius'. Although Felix continued to sign his letters as 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy' in obedience to his father's injunctions, he seems not to have objected to the use of 'Mendelssohn' alone. ^[1] Alster River at dusk Hamburg (Low German: Hamborg, [haˑmbɔːχ]) is the second largest city in Germany and with Hamburg Harbour, its principal port, Hamburg is also the second largest port city in the European Union. ... Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a German Jewish banker and philanthropist, born Abraham Mendelssohn 10th December 1776 in Berlin, died there 19th December 1835. ... Jews (Hebrew: יהודים, Yehudim) are followers of Judaism or, more generally, members of the Jewish people (also known as the Jewish nation, or the Children of Israel), an ethno-religious group descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion. ... The Philosopher (detail), by Rembrandt Philosophy is a study that includes diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. ... Moses Mendelssohn. ... 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. ... Luthers seal Lutheranism is a Christian tradition based upon the main theological insights of Martin Luther. ... Confucius (Chinese 孔夫子, transliterated Kong Fuzi or Kung-fu-tzu, literally Master Kong, traditionally September 28, 551 BCE–479 BCE) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings deeply influenced East Asian life and thought. ...

The family moved to Berlin in 1812. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn (later Fanny Hensel), became a well-known pianist and amateur composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than her brother, might be the more musical. Berlin is the capital city and a single state of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Hensel, 1842, by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn Bartholdy (November 14, 1805–May 14, 1847), later Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer, and was the sister of Felix Mendelssohn. ... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ...

Mendelssohn is often regarded as the greatest musical child prodigy after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. From 1817 he studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. He probably made his first public concert appearance at the age of nine, when he participated in a chamber music concert. He was also a prolific composer as a child, and wrote his first published work, a piano quartet, by the time he was thirteen. Zelter introduced Felix to his friend and correspondent, the elderly Goethe. Felix later took lessons from the composer and virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles who however confessed in his diaries ^[2] that he had little to teach him. Moscheles became a close colleague and lifelong friend. Mozart drawing by Doris Stock, 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart; January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... Carl Friedrich Zelter Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 November 1758 – 15 May 1832) was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... Ignaz Moscheles, from a portrait by his son Felix. ...

As an adolescent, Felix's works were often performed at home with a private orchestra for the associates of his wealthy parents amongst the intellectual elite of Berlin. Mendelssohn wrote his first twelve symphonies in his early teens (more specifically, from ages twelve to fourteen). These works were ignored for over a century, but are now recorded and heard occasionally in concerts. At fifteen he wrote his first acknowledged symphony for full orchestra, his opus 11 in C minor in 1824. At the age of sixteen he wrote his String Octet in E Flat Major, the first work which showed the full power of his genius, which, together with his overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which he wrote a year later, was the best known of his early works. (He wrote incidental music for the play in 1842, including the famous Wedding March). 1827 saw the premiere - and sole performance in his lifetime - of his opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho. The failure of this production left him disinclined to venture into the genre again; he later toyed for a while in the 1840s with libretto by Eugene Scribe based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, but rejected it as unsuitable. A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and usually comprised of several movements. ... Opus is a Latin word which means work (in the sense of a work of art). Some composers musical pieces are identified by opus numbers which generally run either in order of composition or in order of publication. ... 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... An octet is a group consisting of eight (8) elements, but it has several more specific meanings (usually given by a specific field or application): Music In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or a musical composition written for it. ... The Overture to A Midsummer Nights Dream is a concert overture composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1826 and later incorporated into his incidental music for A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1843. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A Midsummer Nights Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare written sometime in the mid-1590s. ... Mendelssohns Wedding March is one of the best known of the pieces that he wrote for A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1842. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the... Augustin Eugène Scribe (December 24, 1791 - February 20, 1861), was a French dramatist and librettist. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... The Tempest is the title of: A play by William Shakespeare A painting by Giorgione A Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel It is also the nickname often attached to the Sonata No. ...

In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to England, where Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. Felix had a great success, conducting his First Symphony and playing in public and private concerts. On subsequent visits he met with Queen Victoria and her musical husband Prince Albert, both of whom were great admirers of his music. In the course of ten visits to Britain during his life he won a strong following, and the country inspired two of his most famous works, the overture Fingal's Cave (also known as the Hebrides Overture) and the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3). His oratorio Elijah was premiered in Birmingham on 26 August 1846. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the eminent Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and Empress of India from 1 January 1877, until her death in 1901. ... Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in full Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel) (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

On the death of Zelter, Mendelssohn had some hopes of becoming the conductor of the Berlin Singakademie with whom he had revived J. S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (see below). However he was defeated for the post by Karl Rungenhagen. This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some (and possibly by Felix) to be on account of his Jewish origins. The Berlin Singakademie (formal name Sing-Akademie zu Berlin) is a musical (orginally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th century London Academy of Ancient Music. ... For other people named Bach and other meanings of the word, see Bach (disambiguation). ... Several composers have written St. ...

Grave of Felix Mendelssohn

Nonetheless, in 1835 he was appointed as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. This appointment was extremely important for him; he felt himself to be a German and wished to play a leading part in his country's musical life. In its way it was a redress for his disappointment over the Singakademie appointment. Despite efforts by the king of Prussia to lure him to Berlin, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the musical life of Leipzig and in 1843 he founded the Leipzig Conservatory, where he successfully persuaded Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (354x670, 36 KB) Summary Grave of Felix Mendelssohn, photo taken by me Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (354x670, 36 KB) Summary Grave of Felix Mendelssohn, photo taken by me Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is a German orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. ... Berlin is the capital city and a single state of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... (help· info) [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... The Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre, located in Leipzig, Germany was founded by Felix Mendelssohn in 1843 as the Leipzig Conservatory (he acted as its first director); it was the first German Conservatory. ...

Mendelssohn's personal life was conventional. His marriage to Cécile Jeanrenaud in March of 1837 was very happy and the couple had five children. Felix was an accomplished painter in water-colour, and his enormous correspondence shows that he could also be a witty writer (in both German and English - and sometimes accompanied by humorous sketches and cartoons in the text). | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Mendelssohn suffered from bad health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork, and he was greatly distressed by the death of his sister Fanny in May 1847. Felix Mendelssohn died later that same year after a series of strokes, on November 4, 1847, in Leipzig. He is buried in the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof (Trinity Cemetery) I in Berlin-Kreuzberg. November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Berlin is the capital city and a single state of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Kreuzberg Kreuzberg is possibly the most well-known of the boroughs (Bezirke) of Berlin. ...

Revival of Bach's and Schubert's music

Mendelssohn was deeply influenced by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His great-aunt, Sarah Levy (née Itzig) was a pupil of Bach's son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and had supported the widow of another son Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. She had collected a number of Bach manuscripts. J.S. Bach's music, which had fallen into relative obscurity by the turn of the 19th century, was also deeply respected by Felix's teacher Zelter. In 1829, with the backing of Zelter and the assistance of Felix's friend, the actor Eduard Devrient, Felix arranged and conducted a performance in Berlin of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The orchestra and choir were provided by the Berlin Singakademie of which Zelter was the prinicpal conductor. The success of this performance (the first since Bach's death in 1750) was an important element in the revival of J.S. Bach's music in Germany and, eventually, throughout Europe. It earned Mendelssohn widespread acclaim at the age of twenty. It also led to one of the very few references which Felix ever made to his origins: 'To think that it took an actor and a Jew-boy (Judensohn) to revive the greatest Christian music for the world' (cited by Devrient in his memoirs of the composer). Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together almost all of the strands of the baroque style and brought it to its ultimate maturity. ... 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. ... Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, in a portrait by Wilhelm Weitsch Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (November 22, 1710 – July 1, 1784) was the eldest, and by common repute the most gifted son, of Johann Sebastian Bach; a famous organist, a famous improvisor, and a complete master of counterpoint. ... Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Weimar, March 8, 1714 – December 14, German musician and composer, the second son of Johann Sebastian Bach. ... Bachs St. ... The Berlin Singakademie (formal name Sing-Akademie zu Berlin) is a musical (orginally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th century London Academy of Ancient Music. ... Events March 2 - Small earthquake in London, England April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella James Gray reveals her sex...

Mendelssohn also revived interest in the work of Franz Schubert. He conducted the premiere of Schubert's Ninth Symphony at Leipzig on the 21st March 1839, more than a decade after the composer's death. In 1838 Robert Schumann, on a visit to Vienna, found the dusty manuscript of Franz Schuberts C major symphony (the Great, D.944) and took it back to Leipzig, where it was performed by Felix Mendelssohn and celebrated in the Neue Zeitschrift. ... (Redirected from 21st March) March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Contemporaries

Throughout his life Mendelssohn was wary of the more radical musical developments undertaken by some of his contemporaries. He was generally on friendly, if somewhat cool, terms with the likes of Berlioz, Liszt, and Meyerbeer, but in his letters expresses his frank disapproval of their works. Portrait of Berlioz by Signol, 1832 Louis Hector Berlioz (December 11, 1803 – March 8, 1869) was a French Romantic composer best known for the Symphonie Fantastique, first performed in 1830, and for his Requiem of 1837, with its tremendous resources that include four antiphonal brass choirs. ... Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a virtuoso pianist and composer. ... Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (September 5, 1791 - May 2, 1864) was a noted opera composer. ...

In particular, he seems to have regarded Paris and its music with the greatest of suspicion and an almost Puritanical distaste. Attempts made during his visit there to interest him in Saint-Simonianism ended in embarrassing scenes. He thought the Paris style of opera vulgar, and the works of Meyerbeer insincere. When Ferdinand Hiller suggested in conversation to Felix that he looked rather like Meyerbeer (they were distant cousins, both descendants of Rabbi Moses Isserlis), Mendelssohn was so upset that he immediately went to get a haircut to differentiate himself. It is significant that the only musician with whom he was a close personal friend, Moscheles, was of an older generation and equally conservative in outlook. Moscheles preserved this outlook at the Lepizig Conservatoire until his own death in 1870. The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... Saint-Simon can refer to various people: Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon (1607–1693), French courtier Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon (1675–1755), French soldier, diplomatist and writer of memoirs Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825), the founder of French socialism Simon... Ferdinand Hiller (October 24, 1811 - May 12, 1885), German composer, was born at Frankfort-on-Main. ... Moses Isserles (or Moshe Isserlis) (1530 - 1572), was a Rabbi and Talmudist, renowned for his fundamental work of Halakha (Jewish law), titled the Mapah (HaMapah), a component of the Shulkhan Arukh. ...

Reputation

This conservative strain in Mendelssohn, which set him apart from some of his more flamboyant contemporaries, bred a similar condescension on their part toward his music. Together with Felix's success, his popularity and his Jewish origins, it irked Richard Wagner sufficiently to damn him with faint praise, three years after Felix's death, in his anti-Jewish pamphlet Das Judenthum in der Musik. This was the start of a movement to denigrate Mendelssohn's achievements which lasted almost a century, the remants of which can still be discerned today amongst some writers. The Nazi regime was to cite Felix's Jewish origin in banning his works and destroying memorial statues. Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig[1] – February 13, 1883 in Venice[2]) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as he later came to call them). ... Das Judenthum in der Musik (Judaism in Music or Jewishness in Music) is an anti-Semitic article which was published in the Neue Zeitschrift. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ...

In England however Mendelssohn's reputation remained high for a long time; the adulatory (and today scarcely readable) novel Charles Auchester by the teen-aged Sarah Sheppard, published in 1851, which features Mendelssohn as the 'Chevalier Seraphael', remained in print for nearly eighty years. However many critics, including George Bernard Shaw began to condemn his music for its association with Victorian cultural insularity. (George) Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. ...

Queen Victoria demonstrated her enthusiasm by requesting, when the Crystal Palace was being built in 1854, that it include a statue of Mendelssohn. It was the only statue in the Palace made of bronze and the only one to survive the fire that destroyed the Palace in 1936. The statue is now situated in Eltham College, London. Crystal Palace has a number of meanings: Crystal Palace Fine Jewelry & Art Glass Showroom is a jewelry and art glass store located in Wheeling, Illinois. ... 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Paul Henderson in front of Eltham College Eltham College is an independent school situated in Mottingham in south-east London. ...

Over the last fifty years a new apprecation of Mendelssohn's work has developed which takes into account not only the popular 'war horses' such as the Violin Concerto and the Italian Symphony, but has been able to remove the Victorian varnish from the oratorio 'Elijah', and has explored the frequently intense and dramatic world of the chamber works. Virtually all of Mendelssohn's published work is now available on CD.

Works

Main article: List of compositions by Felix Mendelssohn

This is a List of compositions by Felix Mendelssohn. ...

Juvenilia and early works

The young Mendelssohn was greatly influenced in his childhood by the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart and these can all be seen, albeit often rather crudely, in the twelve early 'symphonies,' mainly written for performance in the Mendelssohn household and not published or publicly performed until long after his death.

His astounding capacities are, however, clearly revealed in a clutch of works of his early maturity (that is, before he was 18 years old!) : the String Octet (1825), the Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826), and the String Quartet in A minor (listed as no. 2 but written before no. 1) of 1827. These show an intuitive grasp of form, harmony, counterpoint, colour and the compositional technique of Beethoven which justify the claims often made that Felix's precocity exceeded even that of Mozart in its intellectual grasp. An octet is a group consisting of eight (8) elements, but it has several more specific meanings (usually given by a specific field or application): Music In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or a musical composition written for it. ... Counterpoint is a musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ...

Symphonies

Mendelssohn wrote 12 symphonies for strings orchestra from 1821 to 1823 (i.e. between the ages of 12 and 14).

The numbering of his mature symphonies is approximately in order of publishing, rather than of composition. The order of composition is No.1, No.5, No.3, No.4, No.2.

Mendelssohn wrote his Symphony No.1 C minor for full-scale orchestra in 1824, aged 15 . This work is experimental, showing the influence of Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748 portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21, 1685[1] (O.S.) – July 28, 1750[2] (N.S.)) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period, and is universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ... Franz Schubert. ...

From 1829 to 1830 he wrote his Symphony No.5 in D Major, Reformation. Despite its quality, Mendelssohn remained dissatisfied with it and did not allow publication of the score.

The Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3 in A minor), was written and revised intermittently between 1830 and 1842. This piece successfully evokes Scotland's atmosphere in the ethos of Romanticism, but does not depend on any actual Scottish folk melodies. Mendelssohn published the score of the symphony in 1842. The Symphony No. ... Romanticism was a secular and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ...

Mendelssohn travelled widely in Europe throughout his life, and a visit to Italy inspired him to write the Symphony No 4 in A major, known as the Italian. Mendelssohn conducted the premiere in 1833, but he did not allow this score to be published during his lifetime as he continually sought to rewrite it. The Symphony No. ...

In 1840 Mendelssohn wrote the choral Symphony No.2 in D Major, entitled Lobgesange (Song of Praise) and this score was published in 1841.

Other orchestral music

Mendelssohn wrote the concert overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) in 1830, inspired by visits he made to Scotland around the end of the 1820s. He visited the cave, on the Hebridean isle of Staffa, as part of his Grand Tour of Europe, and was so impressed that he scribbled the opening theme of the overture on the spot, including it in a letter he wrote home the same evening. Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Entrance to Fingals cave, 2004 Entrance to Fingals cave, 1900 Fingals Cave is a sea-cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. ... The Hebrides The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, and in geological terms are composed of the oldest rocks in the British Isles. ... Fingals Cave around 1900 View from West to East Staffa (Norse for staff, column, or pillar island), an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ...

Throughout his career he wrote a number of other concert overtures; those most frequently played today include Ruy Blas written for the drama by Victor Hugo and Meerestille und Glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage) inspired by the poem by Goethe. Victor-Marie Hugo. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ...

The incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream (op. 61), including the well-known Wedding March, was written in 1843, seventeen years after the overture.

Opera

Mendelssohn wrote some Singspiels for family performance in his youth. In 1827 he wrote a more sophisticated work, Die Hochzeit von Camacho, based on an episode in Don Quixote, for public consumption. This was however not a success - Mendelssohn left the theatre before the conclusion of the first performance and subsequent performances were cancelled. Singspiel (song-play) is a form of German-language music drama, similar to modern musical theater, though it is also referred to as a type of operetta or opera. ... This page is about the fictional character and novel. ...

Although he never adandoned the idea of composing a full opera, and considered many subjects - including that of the Nibelung saga later adapted by Wagner - he never wrote more than a few pages of sketches for any project. In his last years the manager Benjamin Lumley tried to contract him to write an opera on The Tempest on a libretto by Eugène Scribe, and even announced it as forthcoming in the year of Mendelssohn's death. The libretto was eventually set by Fromental Halevy First page from Manuscript C of the Nibelungenlied (ca. ... Portrait of Lumley by Count DOrsay Benjamin Lumley, opera manager and entrepreneur, was born Benjamin Levy, probably in Canada, about 1811, the son of a Jewish merchant Louis Levy, and died 17th March, 1875 in London. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Augustin Eugène Scribe (December 24, 1791 - February 20, 1861), was a French dramatist and librettist. ... Jacques Fromental Halévy Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy (May 27, 1799 - March 17, 1862) was a French composer. ...

Concertos

Thought-form of the music of Felix Mendelssohn, according to Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in Thought Forms (1901)

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64 (1844), written for Ferdinand David, has become one of the most popular of all of Mendelssohn's compositions. Many violinists have commenced their solo careers with a performance of this concerto, including Jascha Heifetz, who gave his first public performance of the piece at the age of seven. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (564x774, 74 KB) Summary Annie Besant Thought Forms Mendelssohn - Project Gutenberg etext 16269. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (564x774, 74 KB) Summary Annie Besant Thought Forms Mendelssohn - Project Gutenberg etext 16269. ... Annie Besant Plaque on house in Colby Road, London SE19 where Annie Besant lived in 1874. ... C.W. Leadbeater (1847 or 1854-1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant. ... Thought-form of the music of Charles Gounod, according to Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in Thought Forms (1901) Thought Forms is a book by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. ... Felix Mendelssohns Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. ... Ferdinand David (born January 20th, 1810 in Hamburg; died July 19th, 1871 in Klosters) was a German virtuoso violinist and composer. ... Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (February 2, 1901 – December 10, 1987) was a violinist, often proclaimed as one of the greatest of all time and the most famous of the 20th century. ...

Mendelssohn also wrote two piano concertos, a less well known, early, violin concerto, and a double concerto for piano and violin. In addition, there are several works for soloist and orchestra in one movement. Those for piano are the Rondo Brillant, Op. 29 of 1834; the Capriccio Brillant, Op. 22 of 1832; and the Serenade and Allegro Giojoso Op. 43 of 1838. Opp. 113 and 114 are Konzertstücke (concerto movements) for clarinet, basset horn, and piano that were orchestrated and performed in that form in Mendelssohn's lifetime. Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... Basset-horn The basset-horn is a musical instrument, a member of the clarinet family. ...

Choral

The two large biblical oratorios, St. Paul in 1836 and Elijah in 1846, are greatly influenced by Bach. One of Mendelssohn's most performed sacred pieces is "There Shall a Star Come out of Jacob," a chorus from the unfinished oratorio, "Christus" (which together with the preceding recitative and male trio comprises all of the existing material from that work). Mendelssohn also wrote many smaller-scale sacred works for unaccompanied choir and for choir with organ. An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus. ... Recitative, a form of composition often used in operas, oratorios, cantatas and similar works, is described as a melodic speech set to music, or a descriptive narrative song in which the music follows the words. ...

Strikingly different is the more overtly 'romantic' Die Erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night), a setting for chorus and orchestra of a ballad by Goethe describing pagan rituals of the Druids in the Harz mountains in the early days of Christianity. This remarkable score has been seen by the scholar Heinz-Klaus Metzger as a "Jewish protest against the domination of Christianity". Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Pagan may refer to: A believer in Paganism or Neopaganism. ... Druidry or Druidism was the religion of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic and Gallic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... The Harz is a mountain range in northern Germany. ...

Piano

Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words), eight cycles each containing six lyric pieces (2 published posthumously), remain his most famous solo piano compositions. They became standard parlour recital items, and their overwhelming popularity has caused many critics to under-rate their musical value. Other composers who were inspired to produce similar pieces of their own included Charles Valentin Alkan (the five sets of Chants, each ending with a barcarolle), Anton Rubinstein, Ignaz Moscheles and Edvard Grieg. Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30, 1813–March 29, 1888) was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. ... A barcarolle (from French; also Italian barcarola, barcarole) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. ... Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein (Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн) (November 28, 1829 – November 20, 1894) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor. ... Ignaz Moscheles, from a portrait by his son Felix. ... Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg (June 15, 1843 – September 4, 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the romantic period. ...

Other notable piano pieces by Mendelssohn include his Variations sérieuses op. 54 (1841), the Seven Characteristic Pieces op. 7 (1827) and the set of six Preludes and Fugues op. 35 (written between 1832 and 1837)

Media

Felix Mendelssohn - Violinkonzert e-moll - 1. ... Felix Mendelssohn - Violinkonzert e-moll - 2. ... Felix Mendelssohn - Violinkonzert e-moll - 3. ...

Notes

1. ^ See discussion of this in biographies by Werner and Todd.
2. ^ Published in 1873 by his wife Charlotte

References and further reading

• Todd, R. Larry: "Mendelssohn - A Life in Music" Oxford and New York, 2003. ISBN 0195110439

The most recent (as of December 2005) comprehensive survey.

• Mercer-Taylor, Peter: "The Life of Mendelssohn", Cambridge, 2000. ISBN 0521639727.

In the Cambridge University series of musical lives, compact and reliable.

• Hensel, Sebastian: "The Mendelssohn Family". 4th revised edition, London, 1884 (often reprinted).

Edited by Felix's nephew, an important collection of letters and documents about the family.

• Werner, Eric: "Mendelssohn, A New Image of the Composer and his Age", New York and London, 1963.

A pioneering re-evaluation when first published, now the subject of controversy because of Werner's unnecessarily over-enthusiastic interpretation of some documentation in an attempt to establish Felix's Jewish sympathies. See Musical Quarterly, vols. 82-83, articles by Sposato, Leon Botstein and others.

• Moscheles, Charlotte: "Life of Moscheles, with selections from his Diaries and Correspondence", London, 1873 (2 volumes).

There are numerous published editions and selections of Felix's letters. A complete edition is now (2006) in preparation but is expected to take twenty years to complete. Leon Botstein, as photographed during a February 2004 interview with WXBC Radio Bard. ...

The main collections of Mendelssohn's original musical autographs and letters are to be found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, the New York Public Library, and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. His letters to Moscheles are in the Brotherton Collection, Leeds University. Entrance to the Library, with the coats-of-arms of several Oxford colleges The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... New York Public Library, central block, built 1897–1911, Carrère and Hastings, architects (June 2003) The New York Public Library (NYPL), one of three public library systems serving New York City, is one of the leading libraries in the United States. ... // The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage) Short history: Founded in 1661 During World War II the entire holdings (at the time some three million books and other materials) were hidden to safety in 30 monasteries, castles and disused mines. ... University Tower, University of Leeds The University of Leeds (United Kingdom) is amongst the largest of British universities and the most popular by applicants, with 52,444 applicants in 2003 for 7,228 places (UCAS). ...

External links

• Felix Mendelssohn House and Foundation, Leipzig
• Felix Mendelssohn on Carolina Classical site
• Mendelssohn's Scores
• IMSLP - International Music Score Library Project's Mendelssohn page.
• BBC Radio 3 Classical Study and musical links
• Mendelssohn cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• ViolinMP3.com - Contains information about the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
• Free scores by Felix Mendelssohn in the Werner Icking Music Archive
• Free scores by Felix Mendelssohn in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Libraries with streaming and downloadable versions of over 5,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1895 and the mid 1920s. ... University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is a coeducational public university located on the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County, California. ... The Werner Icking Music Archive, often abbreviated WIMA, is a web archive of public domain sheet music. ... The Choral Public Domain Library is a website that allows the editing and posting of choral music in the public domain in many formats, most notably PDF and midi. ...

See also

• List of compositions by Felix Mendelssohn
• Category:Compositions by Felix Mendelssohn
• Itzig family