LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Felix Mendelssohn: Music
built 655 days ago
Felix Mendelssohn enjoyed the legacy of an extremely talented family. His grandfather, philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, presented studies in Greek, Latin, German, French, and English. His son, Felix's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, was a successful businessman in Hamburg and a patron of the arts. Abraham, like his father Moses before him, was an intellect and taught his son French and mathematics. Felix's mother, Lea Salomon Mendelssohn, a cultured and artistic woman, saw to it that her children were baptized in the Lutheran Church, a more readily accepted denomination in Germany during those times. She ... encouraged her son's interest in music and taught him piano lessons.
Source:
For many years Mendelssohn was content with his position at the Gewandhaus, and in 1843 Leipzig’s new Music Conservatory opened with Felix as the director. The last years of his life were very important for Mendelssohn’s compositions. During that time, he composed his famous Violin Concerto in E minor. He premiered his final Oratorio Elijah in 1846 in Birmingham, England, and it was considered his best work. On May 14, 1847, Felix received word that his beloved sister Fanny had died, and he collapsed. He never quite recovered and on November 4, 1847, Felix Mendelssohn died.
Source:
Felix Mendelssohn has sometimes been called the "classical romantic." Born in 1809 in the first generation of romantic composers, Mendelssohn's music is the most conservative of the group. If Chopin and Schumann are the Shelly and Keats of Music, then Mendelssohn is perhaps her Wordsworth, with music that is highly sensitive, refined and restrained but still filled with the poetic sensibilities of the age. When Mendelssohn died at an early age like his great colleagues, it was not from an archtypal Romantic affliction such as tuberculosis or madness, but rather from overwork and an ensuing stroke.
Source:
[A]nother dimension to Mendelssohn's glittering career was his far-reaching influence as an organizer and administrator. As a result of his tireless efforts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Conservatory, which he founded in 1843, he raised performance standards to new heights and created many opportunities for contemporary composers and performers. He made a major contribution to the revival of interest in Bach's music, which at that time was virtually unknown to the general public. In 1829, when he was still only twenty, he conducted the first public performance of the St. Matthew Passion since Bach's death, an event which, probably more than any other, provided the impetus for the 19th century rediscovery of Bach. He was ... a great admirer of the music of Handel and Haydn, whose oratorios he conducted in Leipzig. Mendelssohn visited England many times, where he was received with adulation, feted by the press, and became a great favorite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Source:
Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, he travelled extensively, often to Britain, before settling to Dusseldorf and the Leipzig. Using Classical forms he was ... an early romantic in the subjective quality he brought to his work. The overture and incidental music to A Midsummer NIght's Dream 1827/1843, the Fingal's Cave overture 1832, the violin concerto 1845 and the Italian 1833 and Scotticish 1842 Symphonies have always been popular works in the concert repertoire.
Source:
Mendelssohn toured Europe visiting a number of countries where he sketched musical fragments later to be turned into concert works, which is why a number of his works bear titles suggesting these countries. He visited Scotland, writing the seeds for his Scottish Symphony and the Fingal's Cave overture (following a trip to visit the Isle of Staffa, near Mull) and meeting Sir Walter Scott. He sketched his Italian Symphony while visiting Rome and Naples, and note that three of his "Songs Without Words" are Venetian Boat Songs. He was famous particularly in his native Germany and in England, a country he visited several times becoming a favourite of Queen Victoria. He first performed his oratorio Elijah in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival. In his mature years he was to hold a number of posts in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Leipzig where he worked closely with Robert Schumann.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Music