Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
A child prodigy who became a conductor and teacher, he united classical elegance with Romantic lyricism, notably in his “Songs without Words”.
Grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix grew up in Berlin in a wealthy, cultured family. He composed very early: at sixteen his String Octet, at seventeen the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, two masterpieces of astonishing maturity. His sister Fanny Hensel, herself a remarkable composer, remained his musical confidante all his life.
In 1829 he conducted Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Berlin, a work forgotten since the composer’s death: this concert marks the start of the Bach revival. He travelled widely (Italy, Scotland, England), which inspired the “Italian” and “Scottish” Symphonies and The Hebrides overture.
Conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1835, he founded the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843. He died in Leipzig in 1847, aged thirty-eight, a few months after Fanny.
At the piano his Songs without Words (eight books) invented a genre: a sung melody accompanied by the same hand or the other, like a song without text. They teach the balance between melody and accompaniment, light fingers in fast passages and a clarity of articulation inherited from Bach and Mozart.
Piano sheet music (8)
- Venetian Gondola Song Op. 30 No. 6 (Songs without Words) · level 4
- Song without Words Op. 102 No. 3 in C major · level 4
- Scherzo in E minor (Op. 16, No. 2) · level 5
- Song without Words Op. 19 No. 6 “Venetian Gondola Song” · level 5
- Song without Words Op. 85 No. 1 · level 5
- Song without Words Op. 53 No. 5 “Folk Song” · level 5
- Song without Words Op. 19 No. 5 “Restlessness” · level 5
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing · level 3
Guitar sheet music (1)
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing · level 2