Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, grandson of the foregoing, was born at Hamburg in 1809, his father, a wealthy banker, having abjured Judaism and adopted his wife's Italian name. From earliest childhood both he and his sister Fanny showed peculiar sensitiveness to music, and Madame Bartholdy encouraged the tendency. Felix made his first appearance as a pianist in 1817, and he began to compose at the age of twelve. His fame reached Goethe, who invited him to Weimar and accepted the dedication of his first work, viz. three piano quartets. Moscheles and Cherubini heard him, and gave further encouragement. In 1825 he produced an opera in Berlin, which was not a complete success, and in 1826 he had already composed the overture to the Midsummer Night's Bream. Three years later he appeared at the Philharmonic Society's concerts in London, where the overture was first played, and after a visit to Italy he returned to England in 1833. His Stranger and Son, Isles of Fingal, Walpurgis Nacht, Concerto in G Minor, and Symphony in A Major belong to this period. In 1835 he was deeply affected, by the loss of his father, and in 1836 he produced his first oratorio, St. Paul, at Dusseldorf, bringing it to England, along with his newly-wedded bride, the following summer. From 1838 to 1846 he divided his time between London and Leipzig, holding a directorship in the latter town and an appointment, conferred by the king of Prussia. The Hymn of Praise, the musical settings of Antigone and (Edipus Colnneus, the Symphony in A Minor, Lauda Sion, and the overture to Buy Bias were his chief productions during those years. It was for the Birmingham Festival of 1847 that he composed Elijah, and he directed the performance. His health now gave way, and, unwilling or unable to rest, although he took a brief holiday in Switzerland, he wrote the Quartet in FMinor, sketched out the oratorio of Christ, began an opera Lorelei, and had two others in view. Paralysis came on quite suddenly and he died at Leipzig in 1847.