Felix mendelssohn biography summary

Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, always known simply as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer of the early Romantic period.

He was perhaps the greatest child prodigy after Mozart.

Biography

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, the son of a banker, Abraham, who was himself the son of the famous Jewishphilosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. Felix's family, however, converted to Lutheranism, and moved to Berlin in 1812. His sister was Fanny Mendelssohn (later Fanny Hensel), who was a well known pianist and amateur composer herself.

Mendelssohn began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris.

From 1817 he studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. He probably made his first public concert appearance at the age of nine, when he participated in a chamber music