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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Composer of the Week: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Episode 3: The Mozart of the 19th Century

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Episode 3

Episode 3: The Mozart of the 19th Century

The Mozart of the 19th Century

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), The Mozart of the 19th Century

Donald Macleod on the influence Mendelssohn's education had on his outlook and music.

Donald Macleod explores the long-lasting influence Mendelssohn's rigorous education had on his outlook and music-making.

Felix Mendelssohn had a remarkable, if brief career, cut short at the age of just 38 in 1847. He was born into an exceptional family. His grandfather Moses was a much respected Jewish philosopher, while his father Abraham, a wealthy Jewish banker and his mother Lea, a cultivated, musical woman had the standing and means to provide their four children with every opportunity Berlin society could offer. Only a handful of composers can match Mendelssohn's precocious talent. A child prodigy, famously likened by his friend Robert Schumann to Mozart, Felix's public career began at the age of 9. Between the ages of 11 and 15, he wrote 13 strings symphonies, 5 concertos, 4 operas, chamber music, piano and organ pieces, solo songs and choral pieces. Across the week Donald explores the musical treasures inspired by these formative years.

Mendelssohn's education was nothing if not thorough. From the age of nine, a long list of tutors arrived at the family home to teach a comprehensive list of subjects ranging from Latin to geography but perhaps the man who was to have the most profound influence over him in his early years was Carl Zelter, the director of Singakademie. Today Donald Macleod looks at Mendelssohn's early training.

"Herr, Der Du Bist Der Gott" (St. Paul, Part 1)
Choruses of the Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale
Champs-Élysées Orchestra
Philippe Herreweghe (director)

String Symphony no.12 (1st movement: Fuga. Grave-Allegro)
London Festival Orchestra
Ross Pople (conductor)

Hexenlied, Op.8 no. 8
Margaret Price (soprano)
Graham Johnson (piano)

Rondo Brillant, Op.29
Stephen Hough (piano)

Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, Op.27
London Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

Gott, sei mir gnädig nach deiner Güte
"Ich Danke Dir, Herr, Mein Gott" (St. Paul, Part 1)
Matthias Goerne (bass)
Choruses of the Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale
Champs-Élysées Orchestra
Philippe Herreweghe (director).

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores Mendelssohn's early years and the musical treasures they inspired.

Donald Macleod explores Mendelssohn's formative years and the musical treasures they inspired

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Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Episode 3: The Mozart of the 19th Century

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