Felix Mendelssohn - Article Example

Felix Mendelssohn Music has been one of the most important type of art today. Since time immemorial, composers, singers, artists, and so on have been held in very high regard in the society. There are some of the most famous entertainers we know, Michael Jackson is said to be the top. Nonetheless, there was music before electronics came, and thus were famous composers of the 18th century. This paper will be discussing most of the important information about Felix Mendelssohn, his life, pretty much about every bit of it, which will include his works and family. Born on 3rd February, 1809, in Hamburg which was by then an independent city-state, Felix Mendelssohn is considered among the best composers in the world has ever seen (Hensel 34). His father, Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker and his mother while else his mother was a member of the Itzig family. Her mother, Lea Solomon, was a sister to Jacob Solomon Barthday. Felix Mendelssohn married the daughter of a clergyman, Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud, on the 28th of March 1837. Although the couple had 5 children, there was an unfortunate demise that claimed the life of the second youngest child, August, in 1851. August had had his health significantly impaired by measles he had contracted seven years earlier. This composer was the second of four children and the family was basically a musical family. His elder sister, Fanny, actually, depicted a certain type of prowess in music that only the greatest composers had seen. Nonetheless, this paper will be profiling Felix Mendelssohn. When Felix Mendelssohn was born, his family moved to Berlin. This was in 1811. The reason behind this was not honourable though, they were leaving in disguise as they feared the French would revenge for the role of the Mendelssohn bank in the breaking of Napoleon’s Continental System blockade. His parents believed in education and thus had decided that they give the children the best education they could get in the region. While gender segregation still existed during the time, Fanny was allowed to venture into music only that she would not become professional (Citron 105). Felix, on the other hand, was not thought by his father that he would turn out to be a splendid composer, that his sister, Fanny, would be, nut this was not right. In no time, the young Felix had scaled the heights of music and became a renowned performer, composer, teacher, and director in no time. Other than his father believing that Felix would not get so far into music, he was hesitant with allowing the young boy to get into the industry and it was until he saw the dedication in him that he finally caved in to the young man’s dreams. Education To many, Mendelssohn was a child prodigy. His influence, his mother, begun teaching him how to play the piano at a very tender age, 6. At the age of 7, Mendelssohn was tutored by Marie Bigot. After the whole family had left for Berlin, Mendelssohn, and his siblings begun taking piano lessons from a different tutor, Ludwig Berger. Berger was a former student of the famous Music Clement and was also an excellent musician. Sometime later, Mendelssohn, and his elder sister, Fanny, studied composition and counterpoint in Berlin under the care of Carl Friedrich Zelter. This opportunity to learn with Zelter turned out to be the most important influence in his life (Polko 18). After starting to learn what the piano entails at the age of six, Mendelssohn is said to have performed on stage at the age of nine during which he was participating in the chamber music covert. He was accompanying the horn duo. When Mendelssohn was 13, his works were already famous and were performed at homes to the wealthiest of the wealthy or the elite in the society. Normally this was done with private orchestras. He had written about 12 string symphonies just around this age. By the time he was 13, Mendelssohn had written a piano quartet which was his first published work. While all the 12 string symphonies depicted a certain level of prowess that was unfamiliar to many, and although they really were good compositions, these works were ignored for over a century and it was after that that people started paying attention and indeed had them performed in concerts in different parts of the world. Musical study and employment When Mendelssohn, at age 16, wrote his String Octet in E-flat major, everybody knew that that was special and that he really was a genius. It is this Octet and his Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that he would later write just a few years later that are said to be the greatest in his career. Later in 1842 he wrote the incidental music play that included Wedding March. These too became famous works. Mendelssohn was a dedicated composer and to achieve this he knew that it was important to learn and do so seriously. In 1824, he had Ignaz Moscheles as his tutor but he later, in his diary, confessed that in reality, there was not that much that he could have to teach Mendelssohn. Reason, the student was already too good. While Mendelssohn is considered a performer, the truth is he only did that once while performing the famous opera Die Hochzeit des Camacho in 1827 (Krettenauer 23). Due to his failure of this piece of work, Mendelssohn was completely disengaged from it never to try it again anytime in his future. Like the famous people of the renaissance era, Mendelssohn was a talented artist, was good in both languages and literature, and lastly, was a very good philosopher. He was interested in classical literature. He did a translation for his tutor, Heyse work done by Terence, Andria. This impressed Heyse and he had it published. Other than his mother, as young boy, Mendelssohn was significantly influenced by the music by Moxart, Bach, and Beethoven. Impact these people had in his musical career can be seen in his 12 strings early symphonies. His work was mainly for family used and only turned “commercial” long after he was gone. Music, and significance Mendelssohn was very weary of the radical musical developments that a number of his contemporaries had taken. With the likes of Fraz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn was very friendly with the musicians and often cool about their line of music. However, his letters expressed that he did not approve these people’s work and that for instance, saying that Fraz Lisxzt’s work was inferior for his playing. He goes on to say that Berlioz has a frightful muddle in his work and that a person would need to wash their hands after handling these piece of work. Oddities While anyone would expect a musician to be very friendly, Mendelssohn was nicknamed the “discontented Polish count” due to his cold and reserved personality. According to people near him, he is said to have been a quick tempered man. The oddest day of his life, however, nay have occurred on a certain occasion in 1830s when he had his wishes crossed. When he was asked to speak in a family assembly, Mendelssohn began to talk incoherently and more so in a foreign language, English, dumbfounding everyone present in the gathering. His father’s stern voice shook him from the wild gush of words and he was taken to bed where he slept for 12 hours straight restoring him to his normal state. These, among other oddities in his life are said to have contributed to his death. Death Mendelssohn was a very dedicated person. In his final years of his life, he was overworking himself and it is said that it was due to this overload of work that aggregated an already poor health condition which he succumbed to. He had toured England in a trip that turned out to be his last as the trip had the toughest schedule which therefore left him so ill and very exhausted. On his return, he spent a few days before the demise of his elder sister, Fanny, on the 14th of May, 1847 which really was devastating to him. The death caused him great distress and it was only a matter of six months that he himself died. He was pronounced dead on 4 November after suffering a series of strokes. He died in Leipzig. Mendelssohn died at a very early age, 38, from the same complications his grandfather, Fanny, and both his parent had died from. He was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Berlin. The funeral was held in Leipzig. Works Cited Citron, Marcia J. "Gender, professionalism and the musical canon." Journal of Musicology (1990): 102-117. Hensel, Sebastian, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. The Mendelssohn family (1729-1847) from letters and journals. Vol. 2. Harper & brothers, 1882. Krettenauer, Thomas. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys" Heimkehr aus der Fremde": Untersuchungen und Dokumente zum Liederspiel op. 89. Vol. 5. B. Wissner, 1994. Polko, Elise, and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Reminiscences of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: A Social and Artistic Biography. Longmans Green, 1869. Read More