Felix Mendelssohn.

Felix Mendelssohn was born on February 3, 1809 in Hamburg. His grandfather was the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His father Abraham worked as a banker; his mother Lea encouraged his musical education. He studied piano and composition alongside his sister Fanny, herself a composer. At Humboldt University in Berlin, Mendelssohn expanded his education. By age 12, he had already composed several works.

At age 17, Mendelssohn composed the overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which then toured Europe. In 1829 he conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, reviving interest in Bach’s music. Travels in 1830 inspired the Hebrides overture; the Scottish Symphony followed in 1842. As Kapellmeister in Leipzig, he directed the Gewandhaus Orchestra and premiered his own works. The Violin Concerto in E minor, completed in 1844, became a staple of the violin repertoire. His oratorio Elijah premiered in 1846 in Birmingham. Mendelssohn also wrote the Songs Without Words piano pieces and the String Octet.

He married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud on March 28, 1837. They had four children: Paul, Carl, Lili, and Marie. Mendelssohn stayed close to his sister Fanny, a composer whose works sometimes were published under his name because of 19th-century gender constraints. Her sudden death in 1847 affected him. The singer Jenny Lind, whom Mendelssohn admired, later founded a scholarship in his memory. The exact nature of their friendship remains debated by biographers.

Posthumous honors include the Pour le Mérite order and honorary citizenship of Leipzig. The Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, established by Jenny Lind in 1847, supports British composers every two years. His orchestration of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing remains a Christmas staple. Mendelssohn’s music influenced composers such as Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Today, his Violin Concerto, Italian Symphony, and Elijah are performed worldwide.