The Life and Times of Felix Mendelssohn

The Life and Times of Felix Mendelssohn
Author: Susan Zannos
Publisher: Mitchell Lane
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1545748802

Unlike most 19th Century composers who had to struggle to make a living, Felix Mendelssohn came from a very wealthy family. He never had to work, but he worked harder to fulfill his family s expectations than many who suffered poverty. He was an extremely gifted musical genius who wrote some of his best works while he was still a teenager. Mendelssohn gained fame as a conductor, and as the organizer of many music festivals in Germany and in England where he was always enthusiastically welcomed. Unlike some composers who only performed their own work, Mendelssohn had a passion for presenting the best music of all periods. He was also very generous in helping younger composers by playing their work. His weakness was being unable to say no to the many requests he received for performances. He was a perfectionist who devoted his energy to presenting the highest possible level of musical perfection. As his fame spread, he had little time left for his own compositions. Mendelssohn died at the age of 38, essentially from exhaustion brought on by overworking.

Felix Mendelssohn and His Times

Felix Mendelssohn and His Times
Author: Heinrich Eduard Jacob
Publisher:
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1963
Genre: Composers
ISBN:

Biography of the composer with special attention to his position as a Jew. Of interest to the musician and the general reader.

Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn
Author: R. Larry Todd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 748
Release: 2003-10-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780195110432

An extraordinary prodigy of Mozartean abilities, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a distinguished composer and conductor. Now, in the first major Mendelssohn biography to appear in decades, Todd offers a remarkably fresh account of this musical giant.

The Life and Times of Felix Mendelssohn

The Life and Times of Felix Mendelssohn
Author: Susan Zannos
Publisher: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc.
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2004-03
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1612289169

Unlike most 19th century composers who had to struggle to make a living, Felix Mendelssohn came from a very wealthy family. He never had to work, but he worked harder to fulfill his family's expectations than many who suffered poverty. He was an extremely gifted musical genius who wrote some of his best works while he was still a teenager. Mendelssohn gained fame as a conductor, and as the organizer of many music festivals in Germany and in England where he was always enthusiastically welcomed. Unlike some composers who only performed their own work, Mendelssohn had a passion for presenting the best music of all periods. He was also very generous in helping younger composers by playing their work. His weakness was being unable to say no to the many requests he received for performances. He was a perfectionist who devoted his energy to presenting the highest possible level of musical perfection. As his fame spread, he had little time left for his own compositions. Mendelssohn died at the age of 38, essentially from exhaustion brought on by overworking.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Author: John Michael Cooper
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2001
Genre:
ISBN: 9780815315131

This book offers an annotated reference guide to the life and works of this important German composer. It opens with a historical overview of Mendelssohn's reception by contemporary and posthumous audiences and scholars, tracing the interactions between his reception and political and cultural events. It contains a complete annotated bibliography of the literature about Mendelssohn, including biographies, reviews, scholarly articles and interpretations, and reference material. It also offers important information on the Mendelssohn family, including Fanny Hensel, Felix's sister who was also a composer and musician. Cooper's work is the most up-to-date and thorough resource for students of Mendelssohn and his times.

The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn

The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn
Author: Peter Mercer-Taylor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2004-10-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521533423

This book surveys the life, work, and posthumous reception of nineteenth-century German-Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn and Victorian England

Mendelssohn and Victorian England
Author: ColinTimothy Eatock
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 135155848X

This valuable book considers the reception of the composer, pianist, organist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn in nineteenth-century England, and his influence on English musical culture. Despite the composer's immense popularity in the nation during his lifetime and in the decades following his death, this is the first book to deal exclusively with the subject of Mendelssohn in England. Mendelssohn's highly successful ten trips to Britain, between 1829 and 1847, are documented and discussed in detail, as are his relationships with English musicians and a variety of prominent figures. An introductory chapter describes the musical life of England (especially London) at the time of Mendelssohn's arrival and the last two chapters deal with the composer's posthumous reception, to the end of the Victorian era. Eatock reveals Mendelssohn as a catalyst for the expansion of English musical culture in the nineteenth century. In taking this position, the author challenges much of the extant literature on the subject and provides an engaging story that brings Mendelssohn and his English experiences to life.

Mendelssohn is on the Roof

Mendelssohn is on the Roof
Author: Jiří Weil
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 1998
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780810116863

Julius Schlesinger, aspiring SS officer, has received orders to remove from the roof of Prague's concert hall the statue of the Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn. But which of the figures adorning the roof is the Jew? Remembering his course on racial science, Schlesinger instructs his men to pull down the statue with the biggest nose. Only as the statue they have carefully chosen begins to topple does he recognize that it is not Mendelssohn; it is Richard Wagner. Thus begins a story of disarming simplicity that traces the transformation of ordinary lives in Nazi-occupied Prague. Death abetted by the petty malevolence of Nazi functionaries wins all the battles but ultimately loses the war, defeated by the fragile flowering of courage and defiance.

The Mendelssohns

The Mendelssohns
Author: John Michael Cooper
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780198167235

Since about 1970 there has been a veritable renaissance in scholarship and performances concerning the works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel. The essays in this book, presenting the findings of three generations of members of the international community of Mendelssohn/Hensel scholars, constitute a compendium of cutting-edge research relating to these two important representatives of nineteenth-century musical culture.