German composer, pianist and conductor who contributed a lot to the music of the romantic period, and revived other composers' works, such as Bach's and Handel's, although he has not received as much attention as other composers of this period. His best works include the "Italian Symphony", "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", "Scottish Symphony", "Hebrides Overture", "Songs Without Words", and his "Violin Concerto".
A very clever and talented child, Mendelssohn excelled not only in music but also painting, poetry and athletics. The fact that he was born into a wealthy and prominent family, having connections with the intellectual elite of Berlin, helped him promote his work from an early age. During childhood, he composed 11 symphonies and around 5 operas. And a few years later, when he was only 16, he composed one of his famous orchestral works, the "Overture to Midsummer Night's Dream". When he was almost 20, he started travelling to Europe and these journeys inspired him a lot in his compositions. When he was 33, he created the Liepzig Conservatory, which still exists today.
Mendelssohn's style was conservative. He was not on the same musical page as innovators like Liszt or Berlioz. He even expressed in his letters his disappointment for these composers. In the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, Mendelssohn was the composer of a music that "always points behind". However, although he did not break frontiers and explore new territories in music, he revitalised and brought prominence to the music by Bach and Handel and ultimately brought these composers to our radars. When he was 20, he organised and conducted a performance of Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion" and the success of his performance contributed to the revival of Bach's music in Germany and eventually throughout Europe.
In later years, he spent plenty of time in England, where he became very well-known and influential.
His stable family environment might have contributed to the fact that he also created a stable and happy family of 5 children, also being a happy and good natured person. He was very attached with his eldest sister Fanny, a very well-known pianist and amateur composer, to such extent that one could not live without the other. When she died, he lost his zest for life and died a few months later from multiple strokes, which was the same cause of death for Fanny, their parents, and their grandfather as well.
