Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist and conductor of the early Romantic period. He was born to a notable Jewish family, the grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His work includes symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano and chamber music. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality is now being recognized and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era. Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, the son of a banker, Abraham Mendelssohn (who later changed his surname to Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and who was himself the son of the German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn), and of Lea Salomon, a member of the Itzig family and the sister of Jakob Salomon Bartholdy.
Felix grew up in an environment of intense intellectual ferment. The greatest minds of Germany were frequent visitors to his family's home in Berlin, including Wilhelm von Humboldt and Alexander von Humboldt. His sister Rebecka married the great German mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet.
Abraham sought to renounce the Jewish religion; his children were first brought up without religious education, and were baptised as Lutherans in 1816 (at which time Felix took the additional names Jakob Ludwig). (Abraham and his wife were not themselves baptised until 1822). The name Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob, who had purchased a property of this name and adopted it as his own surname. Abraham was later to explain this decision in a letter to Felix as a means of showing a decisive break with the traditions of his father Moses: "There can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish Confucius". Although Felix continued to sign his letters as "Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in obedience to his father's injunctions, he seems not to have objected to the use of "Mendelssohn" alone.
The family moved to Berlin in 1812. Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give Felix, his brother Paul, and sisters Fanny and Rebecka, the best education possible. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn (later Fanny Hensel), became a well-known pianist and amateur composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than her brother, might be the more musical. However, at that time, it was not considered proper (by either Abraham or Felix) for a woman to have a career in music, so Fanny remained an amateur musician. Six of her early songs were later published (with her consent) under Felix's name. [2]
Mendelssohn is often regarded as the greatest musical child prodigy after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. From 1817 he studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. He probably made his first public concert appearance at the age of nine, when he participated in a chamber music concert. He was also a prolific composer as a child, and wrote his first published work, a piano quartet, by the time he was thirteen. Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent, the elderly Goethe. He later took lessons from the composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles who however confessed in his diaries [3] that he had little to teach him. Moscheles became a close colleague and lifelong friend.
Besides music, Mendelssohn's education included art, literature, languages, and philosophy. He was a skilled artist in pencil and watercolour, he could speak (besides his native German) English, Italian, and Latin, and he had an interest in classical literature.
As an adolescent, his works were often performed at home with a private orchestra for the associates of his wealthy parents amongst the intellectual elite of Berlin. Mendelssohn wrote 12 string symphonies between 1821 and 1823, between the ages of 12 and 14. These works were ignored for over a century, but are now recorded and heard occasionally in concerts. In 1824, still aged only 15, he wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op. 11). At the age of 16 he wrote his String Octet in E Flat Major, the first work which showed the full power of his genius. The Octet and his overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which he wrote a year later, are the best known of his early works. (He wrote incidental music for the play 16 years later in 1842, including the famous Wedding March.) 1827 saw the premiere—and sole performance in his lifetime—of his opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho. The failure of this production left him disinclined to venture into the genre again; he later toyed for a while in the 1840s with a libretto by Eugene Scribe based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, but rejected it as unsuitable.
From 1826 to 1829, Mendelssohn studied at the University of Berlin, where he attended lectures on aesthetics by Hegel, on history by Eduard Gans and on geography by Carl Ritter.
In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Britain, where Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. He had a great success, conducting his First Symphony and playing in public and private concerts. In the summer he visited Edinburgh and became a friend of the composer John Thomson. On subsequent visits he met with Queen Victoria and her musical husband Prince Albert, both of whom were great admirers of his music. In the course of ten visits to Britain during his life he won a strong following, and Scotland inspired two of his most famous works, the overture Fingal's Cave (also known as the Hebrides Overture) and the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3). His oratorio Elijah was premiered in Birmingham at the Triennial Music Festival on 26 August 1846.
On the death of Zelter, Mendelssohn had some hopes of becoming the conductor of the Berlin Singakademie with which he had revived Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion (see below). However he was defeated for the post by Karl Rungenhagen. This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some (and possibly by Mendelssohn himself) to be on account of his Jewish origins.
Nonetheless, in 1835 he was appointed as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. This appointment was extremely important for him; he felt himself to be a German and wished to play a leading part in his country's musical life. In its way it was a redress for his disappointment over the Singakademie appointment. Despite efforts by the king of Prussia to lure him to Berlin, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the musical life of Leipzig and in 1843 he founded the Leipzig Conservatory, where he successfully persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him.
Mendelssohn's personal life was conventional. His marriage to Cécile Jeanrenaud in March of 1837 was very happy and the couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Felix, and Lilli. Mendelssohn was an accomplished painter in watercolours, and his enormous correspondence shows that he could also be a witty writer in German and English—sometimes accompanied by humorous sketches and cartoons in the text.
Mendelssohn suffered from bad health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork, and he was greatly distressed by the death of his sister Fanny in May 1847. Felix Mendelssohn died later that same year after a series of strokes, on November 4, 1847, in Leipzig. His funeral was held at the Paulinerkirche and he is buried in the Trinity Cemetery in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Hamburg, 1809. február 3. – Lipcse, 1847. november 4.) német zeneszerző, karmester, zongora- és orgonaművész.
Felix grew up in an environment of intense intellectual ferment. The greatest minds of Germany were frequent visitors to his family's home in Berlin, including Wilhelm von Humboldt and Alexander von Humboldt. His sister Rebecka married the great German mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet.
Abraham sought to renounce the Jewish religion; his children were first brought up without religious education, and were baptised as Lutherans in 1816 (at which time Felix took the additional names Jakob Ludwig). (Abraham and his wife were not themselves baptised until 1822). The name Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob, who had purchased a property of this name and adopted it as his own surname. Abraham was later to explain this decision in a letter to Felix as a means of showing a decisive break with the traditions of his father Moses: "There can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish Confucius". Although Felix continued to sign his letters as "Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in obedience to his father's injunctions, he seems not to have objected to the use of "Mendelssohn" alone.
The family moved to Berlin in 1812. Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give Felix, his brother Paul, and sisters Fanny and Rebecka, the best education possible. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn (later Fanny Hensel), became a well-known pianist and amateur composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than her brother, might be the more musical. However, at that time, it was not considered proper (by either Abraham or Felix) for a woman to have a career in music, so Fanny remained an amateur musician. Six of her early songs were later published (with her consent) under Felix's name. [2]
Mendelssohn is often regarded as the greatest musical child prodigy after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. From 1817 he studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. He probably made his first public concert appearance at the age of nine, when he participated in a chamber music concert. He was also a prolific composer as a child, and wrote his first published work, a piano quartet, by the time he was thirteen. Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent, the elderly Goethe. He later took lessons from the composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles who however confessed in his diaries [3] that he had little to teach him. Moscheles became a close colleague and lifelong friend.
Besides music, Mendelssohn's education included art, literature, languages, and philosophy. He was a skilled artist in pencil and watercolour, he could speak (besides his native German) English, Italian, and Latin, and he had an interest in classical literature.
As an adolescent, his works were often performed at home with a private orchestra for the associates of his wealthy parents amongst the intellectual elite of Berlin. Mendelssohn wrote 12 string symphonies between 1821 and 1823, between the ages of 12 and 14. These works were ignored for over a century, but are now recorded and heard occasionally in concerts. In 1824, still aged only 15, he wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op. 11). At the age of 16 he wrote his String Octet in E Flat Major, the first work which showed the full power of his genius. The Octet and his overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which he wrote a year later, are the best known of his early works. (He wrote incidental music for the play 16 years later in 1842, including the famous Wedding March.) 1827 saw the premiere—and sole performance in his lifetime—of his opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho. The failure of this production left him disinclined to venture into the genre again; he later toyed for a while in the 1840s with a libretto by Eugene Scribe based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, but rejected it as unsuitable.
From 1826 to 1829, Mendelssohn studied at the University of Berlin, where he attended lectures on aesthetics by Hegel, on history by Eduard Gans and on geography by Carl Ritter.
In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Britain, where Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. He had a great success, conducting his First Symphony and playing in public and private concerts. In the summer he visited Edinburgh and became a friend of the composer John Thomson. On subsequent visits he met with Queen Victoria and her musical husband Prince Albert, both of whom were great admirers of his music. In the course of ten visits to Britain during his life he won a strong following, and Scotland inspired two of his most famous works, the overture Fingal's Cave (also known as the Hebrides Overture) and the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3). His oratorio Elijah was premiered in Birmingham at the Triennial Music Festival on 26 August 1846.
On the death of Zelter, Mendelssohn had some hopes of becoming the conductor of the Berlin Singakademie with which he had revived Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion (see below). However he was defeated for the post by Karl Rungenhagen. This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some (and possibly by Mendelssohn himself) to be on account of his Jewish origins.
Nonetheless, in 1835 he was appointed as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. This appointment was extremely important for him; he felt himself to be a German and wished to play a leading part in his country's musical life. In its way it was a redress for his disappointment over the Singakademie appointment. Despite efforts by the king of Prussia to lure him to Berlin, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the musical life of Leipzig and in 1843 he founded the Leipzig Conservatory, where he successfully persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him.
Mendelssohn's personal life was conventional. His marriage to Cécile Jeanrenaud in March of 1837 was very happy and the couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Felix, and Lilli. Mendelssohn was an accomplished painter in watercolours, and his enormous correspondence shows that he could also be a witty writer in German and English—sometimes accompanied by humorous sketches and cartoons in the text.
Mendelssohn suffered from bad health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork, and he was greatly distressed by the death of his sister Fanny in May 1847. Felix Mendelssohn died later that same year after a series of strokes, on November 4, 1847, in Leipzig. His funeral was held at the Paulinerkirche and he is buried in the Trinity Cemetery in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Hamburg, 1809. február 3. – Lipcse, 1847. november 4.) német zeneszerző, karmester, zongora- és orgonaművész.Hamburgban született, gazdag bankár apja a felvilágosodás híres filozófusa, Moses Mendelssohn fia volt. Szüleinek négy gyermeke közül Felix a második volt. A család 1811-ben Berlinbe költözött, áttért az evangélikus hitre, és nevét – hogy megkülönböztesse magát a család zsidó hiten maradt ágától – Mendelssohn-Bartholdyra változtatta. A gyereket nívós házitanítók oktatták, például Heyse, az elismert nyelvész. A festésre Rösel oktatja, a zenei nevelés Zelter kezében volt. Zongorázni Ludwig Bergertől, hegedülni Eduard Reitztől tanult. A politikai liberalizmus vonzásába került, szellemileg és művészileg egyaránt felvilágosult légkörű családnál megfordult többek közt Heinrich Heine is.
Mendelssohn, akit a maga korában gyakran hasonlítottak Mozarthoz, kilencévesen lépett fel először mint zongorista, tizenkét éves korától már rendszeresen komponált. A zene mellett Humboldt hatására az irodalomban, nyelvekben is jártas lett, mindemellett úszik, vív, lovagol. 1825-ben – Cherubini elismerő szavai hatására – eldőlt a sorsa: zeneszerző lesz. Ettől kezdve opus-számmal látja el műveit. Meg kell jegyezni, hogy nővére, Fanny is rendkívüli tehetség volt, zeneszerzéssel is foglalkozott, de akkoriban a nők társadalmi helyzete még nem engedte a „férfias” pályaválasztást.
Tizenhét éves volt, amikor Shakespeare Szentivánéji álom című színdarabjához a nyitányt komponálta. A berlini énekakadémia igazgatója, Goethe barátja révén 1821-ben megismerkedhetett a költőfejedelemmel. A Mendelssohn-ház vasárnapi hangversenyein fedezte fel az abban az időben csaknem elfelejtett Johann Sebastian Bach muzsikáját.
Mendelssohn 1829-ben európai körútra indul. Anglia és Skócia után Weimar (itt találkozott utoljára Goethével), Nürnberg, München, Bécs és Pozsony következett. Ezután Itália városaiba látogatott: Velence, Firenze, Róma, Nápoly. Hosszabb időt töltött Párizsban, majd ismét Angliába utazott. Benyomásait zeneművekben örökítette meg: Olasz- és Skót-szimfónia, Skót szonáta, Hebridák-nyitány stb.
1832-ben tért haza, később Düsseldorfban vállalt városi zeneigazgatói állást. 1835-ben lipcsei meghívásra elvállalta a Gewandhaus-zenekar vezetését. Itt jól érezte magát, kibontakoztathatta mindazokat az értékeket, amiket a zenében fontosnak tartott. A zenekart Európa egyik vezető együttesévé, Lipcsét nemzetközi rangú zenei központtá fejlesztette. Händel-oratóriumokat, Schumann-szimfóniákat, Beethovent és Schubertet vezényelt. 1839-ben mutatta be a Máté-passiót, amivel elindította Bach németországi reneszánszát.
A zenei utánpótlás biztosítására – kezdeményezésére – 1843-ban megalakult a lipcsei konzervatórium, az első ilyen német intézmény. A lipcsei évek alatt születtek nagyszabású oratóriumai, a Paulus, később az Éliás, és a Szentivánéji álomhoz írt nyitányát kísérőzenévé egészítette ki.
Magánéletében biztos támaszra lelt feleségénél, Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud-nál, akit 1837-ben vett nőül, és aki öt gyermekkel ajándékozta meg. Életét a család és a lipcsei munka töltötte ki. Mindeközben azért utazgatott is, hangversenyeket adott Birminghamben, Frankfurtban és más városokban. A szász király „udvari karmester” címmel tüntette ki, Berlinbe hívták zenei vezetőnek, de Mendelssohn Lipcsében maradt. Írt azért műveket Berlinnek, elsősorban színpadi zenéket.
Szülei halála (1835, 1843) nagyon megviselte, egyre inkább befelé fordult, elfáradt. Az Éliás bemutatója után még eleget tett egy angliai meghívásnak. Kedves Fanny nővere is elhunyt, Mendelssohnon erőt vett a teljes depresszió, 1847-ben agyvérzés érte és meghalt.
Mendelssohn, akit a maga korában gyakran hasonlítottak Mozarthoz, kilencévesen lépett fel először mint zongorista, tizenkét éves korától már rendszeresen komponált. A zene mellett Humboldt hatására az irodalomban, nyelvekben is jártas lett, mindemellett úszik, vív, lovagol. 1825-ben – Cherubini elismerő szavai hatására – eldőlt a sorsa: zeneszerző lesz. Ettől kezdve opus-számmal látja el műveit. Meg kell jegyezni, hogy nővére, Fanny is rendkívüli tehetség volt, zeneszerzéssel is foglalkozott, de akkoriban a nők társadalmi helyzete még nem engedte a „férfias” pályaválasztást.
Tizenhét éves volt, amikor Shakespeare Szentivánéji álom című színdarabjához a nyitányt komponálta. A berlini énekakadémia igazgatója, Goethe barátja révén 1821-ben megismerkedhetett a költőfejedelemmel. A Mendelssohn-ház vasárnapi hangversenyein fedezte fel az abban az időben csaknem elfelejtett Johann Sebastian Bach muzsikáját.
Mendelssohn 1829-ben európai körútra indul. Anglia és Skócia után Weimar (itt találkozott utoljára Goethével), Nürnberg, München, Bécs és Pozsony következett. Ezután Itália városaiba látogatott: Velence, Firenze, Róma, Nápoly. Hosszabb időt töltött Párizsban, majd ismét Angliába utazott. Benyomásait zeneművekben örökítette meg: Olasz- és Skót-szimfónia, Skót szonáta, Hebridák-nyitány stb.
1832-ben tért haza, később Düsseldorfban vállalt városi zeneigazgatói állást. 1835-ben lipcsei meghívásra elvállalta a Gewandhaus-zenekar vezetését. Itt jól érezte magát, kibontakoztathatta mindazokat az értékeket, amiket a zenében fontosnak tartott. A zenekart Európa egyik vezető együttesévé, Lipcsét nemzetközi rangú zenei központtá fejlesztette. Händel-oratóriumokat, Schumann-szimfóniákat, Beethovent és Schubertet vezényelt. 1839-ben mutatta be a Máté-passiót, amivel elindította Bach németországi reneszánszát.
A zenei utánpótlás biztosítására – kezdeményezésére – 1843-ban megalakult a lipcsei konzervatórium, az első ilyen német intézmény. A lipcsei évek alatt születtek nagyszabású oratóriumai, a Paulus, később az Éliás, és a Szentivánéji álomhoz írt nyitányát kísérőzenévé egészítette ki.
Magánéletében biztos támaszra lelt feleségénél, Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud-nál, akit 1837-ben vett nőül, és aki öt gyermekkel ajándékozta meg. Életét a család és a lipcsei munka töltötte ki. Mindeközben azért utazgatott is, hangversenyeket adott Birminghamben, Frankfurtban és más városokban. A szász király „udvari karmester” címmel tüntette ki, Berlinbe hívták zenei vezetőnek, de Mendelssohn Lipcsében maradt. Írt azért műveket Berlinnek, elsősorban színpadi zenéket.
Szülei halála (1835, 1843) nagyon megviselte, egyre inkább befelé fordult, elfáradt. Az Éliás bemutatója után még eleget tett egy angliai meghívásnak. Kedves Fanny nővere is elhunyt, Mendelssohnon erőt vett a teljes depresszió, 1847-ben agyvérzés érte és meghalt.
Furcsa fintora a sorsnak, hogy – csakúgy, mint az általa újra felfedezett Baché –, az ő neve is csaknem feledésbe merült halála után, az életében kiadott 72 és 49 posztumusz műve közül is csak keveset mutattak be. Ehhez a Németországban erősödő antiszemitizmus éppen úgy hozzájárult, mint az az előítélet, amely szerint Mendelssohn muzsikája ugyan szép és elegáns, de „lapos”. Reneszánsza 1959-ben kezdődött, amikor születésének 150. évfordulójáról emlékezett meg a világ.
Mendelssohn zenei stílusa már a szülői házban kialakult. Itt szívta magába a barokk zene iránti szeretetet, a meleg családi szeretet, a tehetség gondtalan kibontakozása tette lehetővé, hogy már igen fiatalon, a legváltozatosabb zenei műfajokban, érett kompozíciókkal jelentkezzék. Már a Szentivánéji álom nyitányában megjelennek egyéniségének legjellemzőbb vonásai, amellyel – Carl Maria von Weber mellett – megalapozta a német zenei romantikát. További romantikus vonásai művészetének a barokk hagyományok tisztelete, az orgonamuzsika és a fúgaszerkezet reneszánsza, az úti élményeiből eredő tájköltészet.
Mendelssohn zenei stílusa már a szülői házban kialakult. Itt szívta magába a barokk zene iránti szeretetet, a meleg családi szeretet, a tehetség gondtalan kibontakozása tette lehetővé, hogy már igen fiatalon, a legváltozatosabb zenei műfajokban, érett kompozíciókkal jelentkezzék. Már a Szentivánéji álom nyitányában megjelennek egyéniségének legjellemzőbb vonásai, amellyel – Carl Maria von Weber mellett – megalapozta a német zenei romantikát. További romantikus vonásai művészetének a barokk hagyományok tisztelete, az orgonamuzsika és a fúgaszerkezet reneszánsza, az úti élményeiből eredő tájköltészet.
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