page_title: Felix Mendelssohn
section_title: Symphonies
hierarchical_section_title: Felix Mendelssohn / Music / Composer / Symphonies
caption_attribution_description: Felix Mendelssohn &#160;(1809–1847)&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Alternative namesJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Felix MendelssohnDescriptionGerman composer, pianist and organistDate of birth/death3 February 18094 November 1847Location of birth/deathHamburgLeipzigWork periodRomanticismAuthority control : Q46096 VIAF: 2665666 ISNI: 0000 0001 2118 1195 ULAN: 500088371 LCCN: n79139515 NLA: 36591008 WorldCat English: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, portrait by Wilhelm Hensel Deutsch: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Portrait von Wilhelm Hensel
context_page_description: Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto and the String Octet. The melody for the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is also his. Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.
  A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family. He was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptised as a Reformed Christian. Felix was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent.
  Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829.
context_section_description: Mendelssohn's mature symphonies are numbered approximately in the order of publication, rather than the order in which they were composed. The order of composition is: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3. The placement of No. 3 in this sequence is problematic because he worked on it for over a decade, starting the sketches soon after he began work on No. 5 but completing it after both Nos. 5 and 4.
  The Symphony No. 1 in C minor for full orchestra was written in 1824, when Mendelssohn was aged 15. This work is experimental, showing the influences of Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber. Mendelssohn conducted the symphony on his first visit to London in 1829, with the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society. For the third movement he substituted an orchestration of the Scherzo from his Octet. In this form the piece was a success, and laid the foundations of his British reputation.
  During 1829 and 1830 Mendelssohn wrote his Symphony No. 5, known as the Reformation. It celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Reformation. Mendelssohn remained dissatisfied with the work and did not allow publication of the score.
  Mendelssohn's travels in Italy inspired him to compose the Symphony No. 4 in A major, known as the Italian Symphony. He conducted the premiere in 1833, but did not allow the score to be published during his lifetime, as he continually sought to rewrite it.
  The Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3 in A minor) was written and revised intermittently between 1829 (when Mendelssohn noted down the opening theme during a visit to Holyrood Palace) and 1842, when it was given its premiere in Leipzig, the last of his symphonies to be premiered in public. This piece evokes Scotland's atmosphere in the ethos of Romanticism, but does not employ any identified Scottish folk melodies.
  He wrote the symphony-cantata Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise) in B-flat major, posthumously named Symphony No. 2, to mark the celebrations in Leipzig of the supposed 400th anniversary of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg; the first performance took place on 25 June 1840.
caption: Portrait of Mendelssohn by Wilhelm Hensel, 1847
exif: {}