Felix Mendelssohn

Born

3 February 1809, Hamburg, Germany

Died

4 November 1847, Leipzig, Germany

Life

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born in Hamburg on 3 February 1809, a grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and his family moved to Berlin in 1811. At 17 he wrote his overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

On 11 March 1829, aged 20, he conducted Bach's St Matthew Passion in Berlin, its first performance since Bach's death, and started a revival of Bach's music. From 1835 he was music director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and on 2 April 1843 he founded the Leipzig Conservatory, the first in Germany. He died in Leipzig on 4 November 1847, aged 38, leaving more than 750 works.

Why play Mendelssohn

His Songs Without Words are piano pieces that sing like songs; he published the first book in London in 1832. Two of the Venetian Boat Songs are here, Op. 19 No. 6 and Op. 30 No. 6, with a gentle rocking left hand.

You also know him from weddings: the Wedding March is from his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, first performed in Potsdam on 14 October 1843. And the usual tune of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing comes from his Festgesang of 1840, fitted to Charles Wesley's words by William H. Cummings in 1856.

When Mendelssohn lived