Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) was a German composer and conductor who played a central role in the early Romantic period. A remarkably gifted musician from childhood, he completed the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the age of 17 and produced mature works at an early age. As conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he also made a major contribution to the nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bach, notably through his performance of the St. Matthew Passion. Mendelssohn’s music is characterized by transparent textures, balanced formal design, graceful rhythms, and expressive lyricism. These qualities can be heard in works such as the Italian and Scottish Symphonies and the Songs Without Words. His piano music includes the Three Fantasies or Caprices, Three Caprices, and Three Etudes, combining singing melodic lines with refined technical writing. He died at the age of 38.