Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prosperous middle-class family; his father was a successful banker and his grandfather was the well-known philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Composer Biography
Mendelssohn's household hosted distinguished guests like Goethe, and evenings often involved family plays or musical soirées.
Composition History
The twelve string symphonies, originally composed as exercises for Carl Friedrich Zelter, were long thought lost until their rediscovery in 1950 in the State Library of East Berlin.
Composer Biography
Beethoven, who never met Mendelssohn, noted in 1813 that the 12-year-old Mendelssohn "promises much."
Composition History
Within two years of completing String Symphony No. 12, Mendelssohn composed the String Octet, and a year later, the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, establishing him as a master by age seventeen.
Composer Biography
Mendelssohn's general musical education was guided by Carl Friedrich Zelter, who emphasized basic compositional techniques and knowledge of past masters like Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Hummel.
Composition History
Mendelssohn's earliest surviving compositions date from 1820, when he was only eleven, and include a violin sonata, piano trio, songs, piano pieces, organ pieces, choral works, and two operas.
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