Felix Mendelssohn, German Composer

Mendelssohn portrait by James Warren Childe, 1829. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (February 3, 1809 - November 4, 1847) was a German... more

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Felix Mendelssohn, German Composer

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Mendelssohn portrait by James Warren Childe, 1829. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (February 3, 1809 - November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. He was a musical prodigy. In 1821 he was introduced to the elderly Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and subsequently set a number of Goethe's poems to music. He was well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, and his ten visits there, during which many of his major works were premiered, form an important part of his adult career. In 1835 Mendelssohn was named conductor of the Leipzig Orchestra. He suffered from poor health in the final years of his life. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill from a hectic schedule. He died in 1847, at the age of 38, after a series of strokes. Mendelssohn's work includes symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. After a long period of relative denigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has now been recognized and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

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September 10th, 2015