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Felix Mendelssohn

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a German composer, conductor and pianist of the early nineteenth century. He was born in Hamburg in 1809 and grew up in Berlin, where he stood out as a child prodigy. In 1836 he met the singer Cécile Jeanrenaud in Frankfurt, and he married her in 1837. He settled in Leipzig, where the first of their five children was born. His sister Fanny was also a composer.

Music and breakthrough

Among his best-known works are the music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, and the Songs Without Words for piano. The recordings in the archive begin in 1953 and show how often the Violin Concerto and A Midsummer Night's Dream in particular have been recorded, often coupled with works by Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

Influence

Mendelssohn's music is clear, graceful and full of melody, with refined orchestration, and it joins classicism to Romanticism. He was also a conductor who brought older music, including that of Bach, to the public's attention. His work is therefore a source of the way we still hear and play classical concert music today. He died in Leipzig in 1847.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the Violin Concerto in E minor and notice how the soloist enters after only a few bars with a fiery, singing melody, without a long orchestral introduction.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists