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Felix Mendelssohn: Leipzig Conservatory
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Mendelssohn appeared as a pianist and conductor throughout Europe, making frequent trips to England. He was musical director for the city of Düsseldorf (1833–35), conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig (from 1835), and musical director to King Frederick William IV of Prussia (from 1841). In 1842 he helped organize the Leipzig Conservatory. He suffered a physical collapse at the death of his favorite sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–47), and died a few months later in Leipzig on Nov. 4, 1847.
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In 1836 Mendelssohn received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig. He finished the oratorio St. Paulin the spring, and it was performed in May at the Lower Rhine Festival in Düsseldorf. Later that year he met Cécile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a Huguenot minister, whom he married in 1837. Five children were born of this marriage.
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In 1835, Mendelssohn became municipal music director in Leipzig, where he ... would conduct the Gewandhaus Orchestra. He would raise the level of the still-thriving ensemble to a new standard of excellence. In 1838, he married Cécile Jeanrenaud, enjoying an idyllic marriage and family life that was quite unlike the stormy romantic entanglements that profoundly affected such composers as Berlioz, Chopin, and Liszt.
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The composer's happiness was increased further by his marriage to Cecile Jeanrenaud in 1837, a pretty girl whose quiet and calm disposition complemented Mendelssohn's delicate nature to perfection. It was an inspired partnership, one which- to Felix's great relief- gained the approval of Fanny and produced no fewer than five children. In 1841, Mendelssohn was seduced away from Leipzig as part of an ill-fated move to Berlin, where myriad political intrigues and petty jealousies reduced him to a state of exhaustion within a matter of months. Feeling the need for some emotional cossetting, Mendelssohn decided to visit Britain, where he had established a huge following in the 1830s. In 1842 he enjoyed his first personal contact with the young Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert. In gratitude, he dedicated his ‘Scottish’ Symphony to the Queen, which had been performed as the climax of his stay in London that summer.
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After a brief residence in Frankfort [Frankfurt], Mendelssohn returned to Leipsic [Leipzig] in September 1845, resuming his old duties at the Gewandhaus, and teaching regularly in the conservatoire. Here he remained, with little interruption, during the winter, -- introducing his friend Jenny Lind, then at the height of her popularity, to the critical frequenters of the Gewandhaus, and steadily working at Elijah, the first performance of which he conducted at the Birmingham festival, on August 26, 1846. The enthusiastic reception of this great work upon this production, added to the irritating effect of the worries at Berlin, made a serious inroad upon the composer’s health.
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Between the years of 1833 and 1836, Felix accepted a conductor's appointment at the Lower Rhine Music Festival. In 1835, he ... conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. It was there that Felix met Cecile Jeanrenaud who would become his wife. Together, they had five children. Mendelssohn often recalled that his greatest joy in life was his five children.
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