"Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), a romantic whose music was rooted in classicism, was born in Hamburg, Germany, to a wealthy and distinguished Jewish family. (He was, however, raised as a Protestant.) By the age of nine, he was a brilliant pianist; by thirteen, he had written symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and vocal works of astounding quality. As a teenager, he performed his works at home with a private orchestra for the intellectual and artistic elite of Berlin, where the Mendelssohns had settled.
"In 1829, at age twenty, he conducted Bach's St. Matthew Passion in its first performance since the composer's death. This historic concert rekindled interest in Bach and earned Mendelssohn an international reputation. He performed as a pianist, organist, and conductor in Germany and in England, where his music was especially popular. He often visited and played for Queen Victoria, and the high point of his career was the triumphant premiere of his oratorio Elijah in Birmingham in 1846. When only twenty-six, he became conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra: and he founded the Leipzig Conservatory at age thirty-three.
"Mendelssohn's personal life was more conventional than that of many romantics; he was happily married and had five children. But constant travel and work sapped his strength, and he died, after a stroke, at the age of thirty-eight.
Mendelssohn's Music
"Mendelssohn's music radiates the elegance and balance of his personality; it evokes many moods but avoids, emotional extremes and typically conveys an elfin quality through rapid movement, lightness, and transparent orchestral texture. He wrote an enormous amount of music in all the forms of his day except opera; today, only a few of his works are in the concert repertory, but these are very popular. They include the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op.64, The Midsummer Night's Dream and Hebbrides overtures; the Italian (1842) symphonies; the oratorio Elijah; and a number of chamber works."
The above is from Music an Appreciation by Roger Kamien, Brief Edition, McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. Pages 187-188.
In the book, Building A Classical Music Library, Bill Parker writes,
"Mendelssohn is one of the most attractive figures in the history of music. Handsome and hard-working, gentle and genteel, he impressed men at the chessboard and women on the dance floor. Born into a wealthy, cultured family, he wore his ingeritance so lightly that it aroused little resentment. He had a touching close realtionship with his siter Fanny , herself a talented musician and composer, and a happy marriage that produce five children."
Building A Classical Music Library by Bill Parker, Jormax Publications, Minneapolis, Minnesota, page 79.
