Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn
The Romantic Period
Wilhelm Hensel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn were among of the early masters of the Romantic Era, composing and performing with one foot still in the Classical Period. They were born in Hamburg to a wealthy Jewish family (though later baptized as Reformed Christians), Fanny in 1805 and Felix in 1809. In 1811, the Mendelssohns moved to the Prussian capital of Berlin to escape occupation by the French Empire. In Berlin, both siblings received extensive musical training as children in violin, piano, and organ, and both became accomplished composers. Felix gave his first public performance in 1818 at the age of 9. Many of Mendelssohn's early masterpieces, including an opera based on the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream, were composed while he was still in his teens.
Fanny, being a woman, was limited by cultural convention and her father's wishes more to private performances, piano works, and chamber music, though she was reportedly every bit as talented as her younger brother. In 1829, she married a painter named Wilhelm Hensel, who encouraged her to publish her compositions. She had a few works included in her brother's publications, but generally kept to performing in the family salon.
At the age of 20, Felix conducted the second-ever performance of J. S. Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, leading to a great revival of Bach. He remarked, "It was a Jew who restored this great Christian work to the people." In this and other ways keenly aware of music history, he was one of the first musicians as a conductor to program both historical and modern works in his concerts. The following year, he toured Europe, inspiring programmatic works such as his Italian Symphony and Hebrides Overture.
Wilhelm Hensel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Despite marrying a woman from a French family, Cécile Jeanrenaud, in 1837, Mendelssohn grew fond of Great Britain, where his organized and sensible style became very popular during the Victorian Era. Particularly popular were his Lieder ohne Wörter, or "Songs without Words," short works for solo piano. In 1842, Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory, a music school, and afterwards served in the court of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the King of Prussia.
When compared to many other composers of the Romantic Period, Mendelssohn's music is highly traditional and conservative. This, and the widespread anti-Semitism throughout Europe over the next century, caused Mendelssohn's popularity to fade until he had his own revival during the 20th century.
Fanny, who had just published a piece under her own name the year before, passed away from a stroke in 1847 at the age of 41. Felix was devasted, suffered a series of strokes, and passed away less than six months later at the age of 38.