Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-03

the same profession than Mendels-
sohn and Bach. yet the genius of the
sturdier man found quick recognition
in the heart and mind of this more
romantic musician, and, by virtue Of
the reverence Of the younger COM
poser, the great "St. Matthews Pas
sion" was presented to the world and
the image of Bach erected in the city
he served so well unsteady. CLASH
cisn and romanticism claSped hands
over the span of years, and together
their separate and united strength
was handed over to the generations
to come.
If genius be but the final aging of
some particular wine in the human
makeup, then Mendelssohn could be
considered the finest example Of such
distilling Centuries before, a wise
day as King of Poland. Some 800
years later lived descendant of this
man, also learned and scholarly, who
found himself the father of poor bit
Of humanity, deformed and ugly, to
whom he gave the name of Moses. In
that miserable body lay a mighty
spirit, a great mind and a noble
heart Working against the greatest
physical handicaps to gaining favor
or advancement, beginning at the
lowest rung of the ladder of success,
he was able, by force of great power
within himself. to reach the heights
and to add to his name on the annals
of history that of his title, 1.-THE
German Plato"
To his son. whom he guided with
strict Righteousness, he left the eX-
ample of his noble teachings and fine
principles. This son was destined to
be the hyphen between the genius of
his father and the genius of his son
Felix, and so delighted in styling him.
self. In Felix, the last great Men
delssohn, the brewing of genius which
began with the one-day King of Po-
land reached its height and strangely
showed itself in music. From earliest
childhood the gift was unmistakable,
and his father. Abraham, followed in
the footsteps of his fathers and care
fully encouraged this new line Of en-
deavor A happy home, loving sister
for companion. and music to his
hearts desire was Felix's from his
first conscious moments. His gift
grew in sureness and originality and
he knew the pleasure of admiration
from his first musical essays.
A brilliant spirit flashing across
the musical horizon of his time to
ever-awakened paeans of rapturous
enthusiasm, he lived to see the shadow
Of another music gradually incroach
on his hitherto exclusive realm, but
not long enough to know the sorrow
Of abandonment which was to be the
fate Of his compositions under the
influence of that same shadow become
reality.
Today there are signs of a return
to a portion, at least, of that great
admiration which was his during his
lifetime. An appreciation also of
his delicate imagery and his pure
style is again evident when one C
his compositions invades the turbid
tangle of modern program. 1t is
just possible that modern progress
in the musical idiom has not brought
all the hoped-for fruition and that
the realization is becoming more gen.
eral that harmony, poetry and SIM
plicity are perhaps, after all, the
best ingredients to mix together when
compromising music.
Mendelssohn, his nature. his life
and his career, is the antithesis of
what we are accustomed to associate
with composers. He was a happy
child and happy man, his life was
singularly free from trouble and, with
but two or three exceptions, his career