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Composer Profiles
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Born: Hamburg, Germany - 1809
Died: Leipzig, Germany - 1847
Biography
Unlike many of the self-taught geniuses with humble
origins in the Romantic Period, Felix MendelssohnBartholdy was born into a wealthy Jewish family who
gave him every opportunity to study art, music,
writing, drawing, and numerous academic subjects.
His musical ability materialized early on, and his parents sought out the best piano, composition,
and counterpoint teachers to foster his talent. They even contracted an orchestra so Felix could
refine his work, and it is said by some scholars that he developed musically faster than Mozart.
Though born in the Romantic Period, Mendelssohn remained a staunch advocate of the Classic
forms in his music; he remained ever cautious in a world filled with composers using
experimental harmonies and techniques, such as Berlioz, Schumann, and Liszt. His compositional
talents were matched only by his conducting skills; he reignited an interest in the music of J.S.
Bach by conducting a tour of the St. Matthew Passion during his time in Leipzig. At the age of
seventeen he wrote his famous Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At twenty he traveled to
Italy, France, and England, meeting fellow composers, and conducting his own works and the
works of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Handel, and Bach. In 1842, Mendelssohn assisted in creating
the Leipzig Conservatory, teaching composition and piano alongside Robert Schumann. Married
with four children, Mendelssohn was a good husband and father, in addition to his role as
teacher, conductor, composer, and traveler. Though he was frequently exhausted and
overworked, Mendelssohn continued to push himself until he received news of his beloved sister’s
death in May 1847. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a renowned pianist and composer in her own
right, and her sudden death of a stroke caused a similar reaction from her brother. Though he
attempted to recover by bringing his family to Switzerland, Felix Mendelssohn died of a second
stroke on November 8, 1847, at the age of thirty-eight.
Works
Mendelssohn’s upbringing reflects the cautious nature in his works. Opposed to the revolutionary
methods of his more Romantic contemporaries, Mendelssohn chose to remain true to the
Classical forms, using models from his North German training going all the way back to J.S. Bach.
Mendelssohn’s parents had his sister, Fanny, trained similarly. It was said that Fanny had
memorized Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier by the age of thirteen. In his orchestral works,
Mendelssohn incorporated some Romantic traits into his music, especially the use of
programmatic materials, particularly in his Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and
his Scottish and Italian Symphonies. All of these works fit comfortably into Classic forms, in
which Mendelssohn adds his imaginative melodies and skillful harmonies. Though he was adored
by the public and his professional colleagues, Mendelssohn was still criticized for his conservative
nature by his more avant-garde contemporaries. “He loves the dead too much”, wrote Berlioz. It is
true that among his fellow Romantics, Mendelssohn was the least likely to employ their
compositional methods, but it is clear that his compositional style was well developed by the time
he was eighteen. The Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, written at the age of seventeen,
represents the new trend of the programmatic overture, a path Mendelssohn would follow with
his overtures The Hebrides, Op. 26, and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27. His orchestral
colors and melodic sensibility combine beautifully with his metrical form and clarity of structure.
Mendelssohn’s works, strongly steeped in the tradition of the old masters, paved the way for a
new era in orchestral music.
Suggested Listening
Symphonies: Symphony No. 3 “Scottish”, Op. 56; Symphony No. 4 “Italian”, Op. 90; Symphony No. 5
“Reformation”, Op. 107
Overtures: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27; The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture, Op. 26
Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Op. 61
Other: Violin Concerto, Op. 64; Songs Without Words