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Felix Mendelssohn: Hamburg Germany
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Between 1830 and 1832, Felix Mendelssohn traveled through Europe, becoming one of the most sought-after conductors of the century. The first book of the "Songs without Words" was published in Venice in 1830. During his travels, Mendelssohn became acquainted with much of the royalty and nobility of Austria, Germany, and England. In fact, Felix's "Scottish Symphony" was dedicated to Queen Victoria.
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Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg on February 3, 1809. Mendelssohn's grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86), had been a famous Jewish philosopher of the German Enlightenment. Felix’s father Abraham had converted to Protestantism because of prejudice against Jews in Prussia and other European countries. In 1811, the Mendelssohn family moved to Berlin and by 1816, Felix and his siblings were baptized into the Protestant faith.
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After writing the Reformation Symphony (1830) Mendelssohn began a series of visits to various European cities that lasted for almost 3 years. After a short stay with Goethe at Weimar, Mendelssohn went to Rome. Both the Scottish and the Italian Symphonies were begun in Italy. In the autumn he returned to Germany and played his newly composed Piano Concerto in G Minor in Munich. In 1832 he left for London, where he conducted the Hebrides Overture and the Piano Concerto in G Minor with great acclaim. That same year his first book of Songs without Words (Lieder ohne Worte) was published.
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Mendelssohn, a musical prodigy, came to prominence in his native Germany before he officially began to study music. He became one of the nineteenth century's biggest composers with his "Violin Concierto" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream" (which contains the evergreen "Wedding March"). A master of symphonic structure, Mendelssohn became a major public figure in Great Britain and spent considerable energy reacquainting the public with Bach's work.
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Felix showed musical promise very early in his life. His mother, a cultured woman (she read English, French, Latin and Greek) was his first piano teacher. She recognized his prodigious talent and next year sent him to Paris for training. He emerged as a "boy-wonder" pianist when he was nine and as a composer at ten. At age eleven he was taken to visit Goethe, Germany's greatest poet, then seventy-two years old. Immediately the older man recognized the child as his intellectual and creative equal.
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Mendelssohn knew Hector Berlioz from their stay at the French arts academy in Rome, Italy. They ... met later in life in Germany. These meetings are described in Berlioz's memoirs. Mendelssohn's personal life was fairly conventional compared to many composers of note. He was happily married and had four children. He performed as a pianist, organist and conductor in Germany as well as in England where his music was especially popular.
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Hamburg Germany