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Felix Mendelssohn was born on 3 February in 1809 in Hamburg Germany. Parents are Abraham and Lea Salomon Mendelssohn from whom he took his first piano lessons. His father was a wealthy banker. Felix's grandfather was Moses Mendelssohn who was a Jewish philosopher. Felix full name was Jakob Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Felix had one brother and two sisters. The name Bartholdy was added to his name to benefit the family. A family member with the last name Bartholdy left inherited property along the river Spree to the family. However, the German Composer is known for his original name Felix Mendelssohn. People often referred to Felix as the Mozart of the nineteenth century.
During Mendelssohn childhood his family converted from Judaism to Protestantism. The children were baptized as Lutheran Christian. In 1811, during the French occupation of Hamburg, the family had moved to Berlin. Felix's first public appearance was at the age of nine. Felix played the piano.
In 1821, Mendelssohn was taken to Weimar to meet J.W. Von Goethe and a remarkable friendship developed between the aging poet and the 12-year-old musician.
Mendelssohn was considered the most prodigious composers of all time. His adolescent works often surpass those from Mozart's early period in terms of depth and complexity. At the age of eleven, Felix performed his first original composition. In 1825, Felix composed one of the greatest chamber works, the Octet in E flat for four violins, two violas, and two cellos. Mendelssohn's, overture to A Midsummer Night Dream considered a masterpiece was inspired by one of King Frederick's requests. Joachim was a soloist in his own G minor Piano Concerto.
He composed this masterpiece at the young age of seventeen. That same year he entered Berlin University. Mendelssohn composed the famous "Wedding March" and other composition were written when he was thirty-four.
Mendelssohn was taught by Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian pianist composer. Carl Zelter, a German composer, also taught Felix. On 11 March in 1829, Mendelssohn conducted the St. Matthew Passion. The composer of this piece was Johann Sebastian Bach. Nevertheless, this first performance since Bach death had the revived public interest in Bach's work. As pianist and conductor, Mendelssohn traveled throughout Europe. Mendelssohn more frequently toured England. Felix had a thorough knowledge of the methods of Bach and Handel. Mendelssohn added a very Romantic elegance and poetry touch to his music.
Although Felix Mendelssohn had an extremely busy schedule with pianist, conductor and teacher duties, he was able to compose five symphonies in his short life. Mendelssohn took on added responsibilities to his already extremely busy life by marrying on the twenty-eighth of March in 1837. He married Cecile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a French Protestant clergyman. She was 10 years younger than Felix was.
He was appointed conductor of the Lower Rhine Festival. In 1833, the Italian symphony was inspired by the visits to Italy. The Scotch symphony and Italian were considered his best known. Composing mostly in the summer holidays, he produced the Ruy Blas overture, a revised version of the Hymn of Praise, the Scottish Symphony, the now famous Violin Concerto op.64 and the fine Piano Trio in c Minor (1845). Through the years of 1833 to 1835, Mendelssohn was a music director for the city of Dusseldorf. In 1835, he was a conductor of the Gevandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig Germany. In 1844, Mendelssohn was a musical director at the Academy of Arts in Berlin for King Fredrick William IV. This required him to supervise and conduct a variety of programs but also to compose upon the king's demand.
Felix helped organize the Leipzip Conservatory in 1842. This conservatory is a school for musical learning. This school was to be the most highly regarded institution of its kind in the world for half century.
Felix composed many masterpieces during the period 1834 through 1844.
Felix Mendelssohn was a romantic. This shows clearly in his orchestral style and his fondness for program music of places, events or personalities. The music was lyric, graceful, and always clear. Felix Mendelssohn never had a revolutionary style to his music.
Mendelssohn melody: a style that is lyricism. He had a feel for delicate, well-proportioned melodies that fit well into the scheme of large sonata movements. Mendelssohn form: very much classic form but he made many alterations to sonata form according to his own principals. Mendelssohn often repeats the principal subject at the end of a piece to make it more brilliant and more coherent. Felix used a theme inter-relationship style between movements Mendelssohn elegance: elaborated on Berlioz and Wagner, the reflection of this grace and restraint of his music. Two features, which are always present, even in his most emotionally potent music.
Mendelssohn had won a tiny hiatus from the press for his amazing duties when he took some time off from his work during the 1844 to 1845. Felix's replacement was Niels Gade, a good friend of Felix. Before Mendelssohn took his time off, he fulfilled a prior commitment of conducting the London Philharmonic Society Orchestra.
Mendelssohn's first critical review was by The London Times. It was said that "Never was there a more complete triumph-never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art." Mendelssohn read Greek and Latin languages and spoke German, French, and English. Richard Wagner praised the Swiss landscapes painted by Felix.
During the nineteenth century, Felix's organ and choral music was ranked among the best. The most famous composition the choir and orchestra were Oratorios St. Paul in 1836, Elijah in 1846, and the cantata Erste Walpurgisnacht in 1832, which was revised in 1843.
St. Paul was a fulfilled obligation given by King Frederick. It was also a dying wish of his father to complete this peace. Mendellssohn performed the piece in Berlin during the autumn. Shortly after this performance, Mendellssohn announced that he was lightening the load he had at the Academy.
Elijah was considered to the most dramatic oratorio ever written. This was first performed in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival. This happened on Felix's ninth and last visit to Britain, which took place just one year before he died. It was the last major work he finished. It was a surprise that Mendellssohn would write about the biblical character Elijah. Mendellssohn was a rather mild mannered Jew converted to Christianity; however, Elijah was one of the most vengeful and fiercest of the prophets. Mendellssohn wrote to his friend Schubring about Elijah's piece he wrote. He had said, "imagine Elijah as a real prophet through and through, of the kind we could really do with today: Strong, zealous, bad-tempered, angry and in contrast to the people and court, and indeed at odds with the almost the whole world and yet borne as if on angels wings."
Another important work of Felix Mendelssohn was Variations serieusesin in 1841 for piano. Concert overtures that included the Hebrides in 1832. This piece of work was inspired by the countryside in Scotland. Violin concerts in 1844 and piano concerts 1831 and 1832.
There were eight volumes of Songs without Words for piano in 1830 through 1845. Felix's sister Fanny wrote some of these volumes. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was his favorite sister. Felix was to write an organ piece for Fanny's wedding however, he was too ill to do so; she wrote "Praeludium" for her wedding on October 3 in 1829. When she had passed away, it caused Felix to suffer a physical collapse. Felix Mendelssohn had died in Leipzig on November 4 in 1847, only a few months after his sister Fanny passed away. His despair over his sister's death was powerfully expressed in his F minor String Quartet. Felix Mendelssohn was thirty-eight when he passed away.
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