“mark[ing] the beginning of his maturity as a composer.”
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Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, simply known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic era. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the String Octet, the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian and Scottish Sy…
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culture · German composer (1809–1847) · composer · pianist · organist · conductor · musicologist · music educator · university teacher · painter · writer · musician · also Felix Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Mendelssohn
Born 3 February 1809 · Died 4 November 1847 · Q46096
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2026· 2 entries
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Felix Mendelssohn
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2025· 1 entry
WSHU news: Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet
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2019· 1 entry
WBUR: Why Felix Mendelssohn's 'Symphony No. 4' Is Known As The 'Italian' Symphony
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2017· 1 entry
Northcountrypublicradio.org: Meet Felix Mendelssohn, Composer Of The Original Song Of The Summer
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2014· 1 entry
PBS: Felix Mendelssohn and the Struggle for Identity
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2013· 2 entries
WQXR: Felix Mendelssohn: a 19th Century Mozart
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George Biddlecombe confirmed in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association that "The Committee of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation possesses material indicating that Mendelssohn wrote passionate love letters to J
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2012· 1 entry
Classic FM: Felix Mendelssohn: The Prodigy
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2009· 2 entries
The Forward: Felix Mendelssohn: Music That ‘Keeps Working’
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NPR: Felix Mendelssohn's Genius In 40 Seconds
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2007· 1 entry
In the context of the impending bicentenary of Mendelssohn's birth, "the intensifying revival of the composer's music over the past few decades", and that "his image has been largely rehabilitated, as musicians and schol
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1987· 8 entries
Released album “Ein Sommernachtstraum / Ouvertüren”.
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Released album “Schubert: Symphonie Nr. 8 »Unvollendete« / Mendelssohn: Symphonie Nr. 4 »Italienische«”.
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Released album “Grieg / Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos / von Weber: Konzertstück”.
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Released album “Dvořák: String Quartet in F, op. 96 “American” / Mendelssohn: String Quartet no. 1 in E-flat, op. 12”.
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Released album “'Scottish' and 'Italian' Symphonies”.
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Released album “Concerti for Two Pianos”.
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Released album “Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor / Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1”.
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Released album “Cello Sonatas / Variations Concertantes / Lied ohne Worte”.
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1986· 5 entries
Released album “String Symphonies: 9 in C minor / 10 in B minor / 12 in G minor”.
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Released album “Symphonien 4 & 5”.
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Released album “The American Tracker: Music of Bach, Clérambault and Mendelssohn”.
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Released album “"Italian" Symphony / Midsummer Night's Dream”.
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Released album “Organ Works: Sonatas / Preludes & Fugues”.
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1985· 14 entries
Released album “5 Symphonien / Ouvertüren”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream / Schubert: Rosamunde”.
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Released album “Liszt: Liebesträume / Schubert: Moments musicaux / Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte”.
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Released album “Piano Trios: No. 1 in D minor / No. 2 in C minor”.
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Released album “Symphonien: No. 3 »Schottische · Scottish · Écossaise« / No. 4 »Italienische · Italian · Italienne«”.
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Released album “Symphonies no. 4 "Italy" & No. 5 "Reformation"”.
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Released album “Symphonien Nos. 1 & 5 "Reformation"”.
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Released album “Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2”.
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Released album “Dvorak: "Dumky" Trio / Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1”.
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Released album “Symphonie No. 2 "Lobgesang"”.
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Released album “Sämtliche Werke für Violoncello und Klavier”.
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Released album “Préludes et fugues / Sonates / Andante varié”.
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Released album “Symphonien no. 3 "Scottish" / no. 5 "Reformation"”.
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Released album “Symphonie No. 3”.
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1984· 12 entries
Released album “Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor / Bruch: Violin Concerto in G minor”.
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Released album “Piano Concertos (No. 1 In G Minor, Opus 25 - No. 2 In D Minor, Opus 40)”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor / Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor”.
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Released album “Concertos for Violin”.
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Released album “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
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Released album “Festkonzert im Schauspielhauses Berlin”.
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Released album “Quintettes à cordes No. 1 Op. 18 en la majeur - No 2 Op. 87 en si bémol majeur”.
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Released album “Motets & Psaumes”.
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Released album “Perahia Plays Mendelssohn Piano Sonatas”.
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Released album “Violin Concertos”.
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Released album “Schubert: Symphonie No.8 „Unvollendete“ / Mendelssohn: Symphonie No.4 „Italienische“”.
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Released album “Piano Sonata, op. 6 / Prelude & Fugue, op. 35 no. 1 / Variations sérieuses, op. 54 / Rondo capriccioso, op. 14”.
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1983· 3 entries
Released album “Symphony no. 4 “Italian” / Symphony no. 5 “Reformation””.
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Released album “Hör mein Bitten”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto / Beethoven: Two Romances”.
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1982· 7 entries
Released album “Violinkonzerte”.
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Released album “Lieder”.
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Released album “String Quartets Nos. 1, 2”.
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Released album “Symphony No. 4 in A major / A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
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Released album “Die Streichquartette - The String Quartets - Les Quatuors à cordes”.
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Released album “Violin Concertos in E minor - G minor”.
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Released album “The Clarinet in Concert”.
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1980· 2 entries
Released album “Piano Trios in D minor”.
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Released album “Two Concerti for Two Pianos”.
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1979· 3 entries
Released album “Symphony no. 4 in A “Italian” / Overtures – The Hebrides / Ruy Blas / A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn's Octet & Schubert's String Trio and Allegro”.
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Released album “Sonates pour violoncelle & piano: N°1 en si bémol majeur, N°2 en ré majeur”.
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1977· 4 entries
Released album “A Midsummer Night's Dream: Complete Incidental Music”.
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Released album “Symphony No. 4 Op. 90 "Italian" / Overture Op. 101 "Trumpet Overture"”.
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Released album “Les Deux Trios Pour Piano, Violon & Violoncelle”.
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Released album “Family Library of Great Music - Mendelssohn”.
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1975· 2 entries
Released album “Symphony no. 3 “Scotch” / Overture to “Fingal’s Cave””.
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Released album “Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2”.
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1974· 4 entries
Released album “Bruch: Violinkonzert Nr. 1 g-moll, op. 26 / Mendelssohn: Violinkonzert e-moll, op. 64”.
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Released album “Octet, Op. 20 / String Symphonies Nos. 10 and 12”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Violinkonzert / Beethoven: Romanzen”.
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Released album “Lieder ohne Worte”.
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1972· 2 entries
Released album “Elijah”.
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Released album “Chöre”.
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1971· 2 entries
Released album “Bizet: Symphonie Nr.1 / Mendelssohn: Ein Sommernachtstraum”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 “Italian” & Prokoviev: “Classical” Symphony No.1 in D Major, Op. 25”.
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1970· 1 entry
Released album “The World of the Great Classics, Vol. 3: Violin Concertos”.
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1968· 1 entry
Released album “Symphonies Nos. 3 "Scottish" & 4 "Italian"”.
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1967· 1 entry
Released album “Symphony no. 3 in A minor, op. 56 "Scottish" / Die Hebriden Overture, op. 26”.
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1965· 3 entries
Released album “Mendelssohn: Concerto in E minor, op. 64 / Schumann: Concerto in D minor”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra / Bruch: Scottish Fantasy”.
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Released album “Concertos pour violon en ré & en mi-mineur”.
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1963· 4 entries
Released album “"Italian" Symphony, "The Hebrides" Overture / "Oberon" Overture”.
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Released album “Brahms: Double Concerto Pour Violon Et Violoncelle / Mendelssohn: Trio Pour Piano, Violon Et Violoncelle No. 1”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor, Op. 49 & Fauré: Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 120”.
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Released album “Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
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1961· 2 entries
Released album “Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto / Mozart: Violin Concerto no. 3”.
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Released album “Symphony no. 4 in A major, op. 90 “Italian” / Symphony no. 5 in D major, op. 107 “Reformation””.
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1960· 3 entries
Released album “Fingal’s Cave Overture / Symphony no. 3 “Scotch””.
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Released album “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
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Released album “Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra / Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra”.
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1959· 2 entries
Released album “Concerto pour violon et orchestre en mi mineur op. 64”.
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Released album “Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major / Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor”.
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1958· 1 entry
Released album “Symphonie Italienne”.
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1957· 2 entries
Released album “Ein Sommernachtstraum”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night’s Dream / Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun”.
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1956· 1 entry
Released album “Mendelssohn & Mozart: Violin Concertos (remastered)”.
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1955· 2 entries
Released album “Concerto en Mi Mineur pour Violon et Orchestre Opus 64”.
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Released album “Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor / Beethoven: Romance no. 1 in G major / Romance no. 2 in F major”.
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1953· 1 entry
Released album “Songs Without Words”.
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1875· 1 entry
And a great upholder of his master's traditions; he numbered among his pupils many of the next generation of English composers, including Sullivan, Hubert Parry and Francis Edward Bache
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1869· 1 entry
Lind erected a plaque in Mendelssohn's memory at his birthplace in Hamburg
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1858· 1 entry
And it remains popular at marriage ceremonies
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1854· 1 entry
Queen Victoria requested that the Crystal Palace include a statue of Mendelssohn when it was rebuilt
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1851· 1 entry
An adulatory novel by the teenaged Elizabeth Sara Sheppard was published, Charles Auchester
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1849· 1 entry
Established the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, which makes an award to a young resident British composer every two years in Mendelssohn's memory
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1847· 7 entries
Died 1847-11-04.
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Mendelssohn attended a London performance of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable – an opera that musically he despised – in order to hear Lind's British debut, in the role of Alice
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“Heine, poeta, que o tratava por "segundo Mozart”
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“Berlioz escreveu isso ao conhecê-lo”
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His musically conservative tradition was carried on when Moscheles succeeded him as head of the Conservatory
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The year of Mendelssohn's death
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Mendelssohn was the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No
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1844· 1 entry
And was left with impaired health; he died in 1851
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1843· 4 entries
Awarded honorary citizen of Leipzig (1843).
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Invited to Leipzig, exchanged batons with Mendelssohn, writing "When the Great Spirit sends us to hunt in the land of souls, may our warriors hang our tomahawks side by side at the door of the council chamber"
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Mendelssohn founded a major music school – the Leipzig Conservatory, now the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy"
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Also wrote incidental music for the play, including the famous "Wedding March"
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1842· 1 entry
This resulted in an embarrassing moment when Queen Victoria, receiving Felix at Buckingham Palace, expressed her intention of singing to the composer her favourite of his songs, Italien (to words by Franz Grillparzer), w
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1840· 3 entries
“s Cave) in 1830, inspired by visits to Scotland around the end of the 1820s. He visited Fingal”
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With ambitions to develop Berlin as a cultural centre (including the establishment of a music school, and reform of music for the church), the obvious choice to head these reforms was Mendelssohn
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Mendelssohn initiated a project to erect a memorial monument to J
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1839· 2 entries
“s drama (which the composer hated). His incidental music to A Midsummer Night”
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An overture to Ruy Blas, commissioned for a charity performance of Victor Hugo's drama (which the composer hated)
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1837· 2 entries
Where Mendelssohn played the piano for a singer, Robert Schumann ignored the soprano and wrote "Mendelssohn accompanied like a God
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That his version of Psalm 42 was the "highest point that he [Mendelssohn] reached as a composer for the church
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1836· 3 entries
“never cease to endeavour to gain his approval ... although I can no longer enjoy it”
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And Elijah in 1846, are greatly influenced by J
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Shortly after the death of the composer's father, which affected him greatly; Felix wrote that he would "never cease to endeavour to gain his approval
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1833· 1 entry
But did not allow the score to be published during his lifetime, as he continually sought to rewrite it
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1832· 2 entries
Which he used in the family house and recitals in Berlin, and later another for use in Düsseldorf
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Mendelssohn had hopes of succeeding him as conductor of the Singakademie; but at a vote in January 1833 he was defeated for the post by Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen
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1830· 1 entry
Inspired by visits to Scotland around the end of the 1820s
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1829· 5 entries
Was noted for his innovatory use of a baton (then a great novelty)
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With the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society
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With the backing of Zelter and the assistance of the actor Eduard Devrient, Mendelssohn arranged and conducted a performance in Berlin of Bach's St Matthew Passion
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Where Moscheles, who had already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles
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His sister Fanny wrote to him of "Bartholdy [
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1825· 1 entry
Wrote a more sophisticated work, Die Hochzeit des Camacho (Camacho's Wedding), based on an episode in Don Quixote, for public consumption
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1824· 3 entries
The 15-year-old wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op
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When Mendelssohn was aged 15
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Mendelssohn studied under the composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles, who confessed in his diaries that he had little to teach him
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1822· 1 entry
And formally adopted the surname Mendelssohn Bartholdy (which they had used since 1812) for themselves and for their children
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1821· 1 entry
Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent, the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (then in his seventies), who was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison w
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1811· 1 entry
Leaving Hamburg in disguise in fear of French reprisal for the Mendelssohn bank's role in breaking Napoleon's Continental System blockade
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1809· 1 entry
Born 1809-02-03.
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