Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper

Composers: Please include the following for each (I need to be able to tell that you read about them and did not just google them or use wikiepedia, etc. and copied and pasted-read your textbook please)

Born in Tobolsk on February 8, 1834, Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, is perhaps one of the most popular. Mendeleev was the son of a teacher and showed early promise in mathematics and physics. When Dmitri was a child his father started experiencing health problems and died when Dmitri was just thirteen years old, forcing his mother to go out and look for a job. She began work in a glass factory which unfortunately burned to the ground in 1848.

Johann Sebastian Bach is known as the most influential organists of all time. More so, he is considered one of the greatest composers in music history. Born into a family of musicians, he was instructed by his father, Johann Ambrosius, who worked as a musician in Eisenach. Bach already had the thriving urge to take on various musical positions. His family of musicians stretches back as far as seven generations. Johann was born on March 31, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany. Some of his best known compositions are “Mass in B minor” and “The Well-Tempered Clavier”.

Early on, he provided music for religious services and special events. He also worked at the court of the Duke Wilhelm Ernst, who then later imprisoned him for weeks when he tried to leave to work for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen because the Duke didn’t want him to leave. While working for the Duke, he was able to write some of his best compositions for the organ. His time there, he wrote “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”, “Herz und Mund und Tat”, and one section of a cantata called “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. Years later, Bach signed a contract to become the new organist and teacher and St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He taught part time at the Thomas School. During this time he worked on several

Years later he wanted to leave to hear great organist Dietrich Buxtehude of the time perform in Lubeck. His leave was only supposed to be a short duration because leave had to be granted from the Church Council. He ended up staying three months longer than what leave he was allowed. When he came back from his leave, he had so many musical ideas and concepts he wanted to incorporate into his playing. He tried to incorporate some of these changes, but the church congregation did not respond well. The Church Council sought out to give him some sort of punishment because it was going against what they wanted. The Church Council didn’t like the changes Johann Sebastian was trying to make so they told him he needed to stop making the changes and stick with the original music. They also asked why he extended his leave for three extra months, but Bach knew that he could not defend himself because the church was not very accepting. Bach began to cause more problems when he refused to work with an undisciplined boys choir. He had heard that the organist in the town of Muhlhausen had died, so he became interested in the position there. Muhlhausen had a long standing tradition, so it was somewhere that Johann Sebastian was interested in the positon. He applied for the job and immediately had the job offered to him. This was in June of

Fanny Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany on November 14, 1805. She grew up living with her parents, Abraham and Lea Mendelsohn, along with her siblings Felix, Paul, and Rebecka. Fanny was the oldest of four children and was closest to her brother Felix. Having been taught to play piano by her mother, at age thirteen Fanny began writing her own music. She studied under the likes of composer Carl Friedrich Zelter. Education was a big part of her beginning years. Fanny’s parents and various tutors taught her in a number of subjects such as literature, music theory, drawing, violin, geography, languages, and mathematics. By nineteen years of age, Fanny had composed 32 Fugues. She also had the ability to play difficult works from memory. Both Fanny and Felix were considered child prodigies in the music world. Despite her talent, Fanny’s father disagreed with her choice to pursue a path in

Franz Joseph Haydn and Beethoven were two important musicians influenced by Bach’s music. While unaware of his vocal pieces, they were aware of some keyboards compositions. Haydn owned manuscripts of the Well-tempered Clavier and the B-,imor Mass((Ludwig Fischuer, “Bach’s Posthumous Role in Music History” in Bach Perspectives 3, Ed. Michea lMarlssen, (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 13) and Beethoven called Bach the “Progenitor of Harmony”( Wolff, Bach: Essays on his Life and Music372) planning to write an overture on Bach’s at the end of his life(Schweltzer, J.S Bach 240)). Still, Bach was not seen as a composer, mainly just a teacher( Denis Arnold, Bach, (Ox University {ress, 1984)

In the late 1810’s, Felix Mendelssohn took part in the Singakedemie Music Academy, where he wrote numerous pieces such as multiple violin sonatas, a cantata, two piano sonatas, and a short opera. In 1821, Karl Zelter took Mendelssohn to the port, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Immediately,

Mendelssohn was an exceptionally gifted musical composer. A prodigy, reared in a highly cultured atmosphere, began composing at age 10, presented his orchestral compositions to illustrious audiences at the family estate. He wrote numerous compositions during his boyhood, among them 5 operas, 11

Felix Mendelssohn is a well-known German composer, pianist and organist of the early Romantic Era. At a very young age, Felix Mendelssohn quickly established himself as a musical prodigy and is now studied by people across the world. What many do not know is that Felix had an older sister who was also a musical prodigy; however, unfortunately, she does not get the same credit as her older brother. Due to the gender politics of this time, women who performed after the age of one who should be married were looked at negatively in society. Women were meant to serve their husbands and take care of the children, not to compose or perform at musical venues. Pieces from both Songs without Words composed by Felix Mendelssohn and Das Jahr composed by Fanny Mendelssohn have so many similarities. When taking a closer look at Felix’s compositional work, it is sometimes indistinguishable to the works of Fanny.

Haydn began music at a young age, singing with the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria at only eight years old! He studied music and sang with the choir for many years before supporting himself through violin and keyboard. Haydn served as a teacher directly to Beethoven, but would also leave a musical impression on later composers Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Brahms. One of his more notable symphonies, “Surprise,” interrupted the relaxed style of most long, legato symphonies by intermingling startling fortissimos to awaken those audience members who were soothed by the quiet, piano sections. He wrote two oratorios: The Creation and Seasons, in addition to six masses, and several

Dmitri Mendeleev was born in Tobolsk, Russia. On February to Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva and Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev. Dmitri’s childhood was normal just as any other, the family had their predicaments, but they faced everything that came their way. In his years of childhood, Dmitri’s father went blind, which was the starting point of their storm. By his father going blind, he could no longer work, but someone had to step up to take care of the finances to make a living.

These two pieces of classical music reflect their respective ideologies of the time very successfully. The Enlightenment and Romantic ideologies are very different on an artistic level, and with Mozart and Mendelssohn’s music pieces we can see how the two ideologies stand up against one another.

Felix Mendelssohn was one of the most famous composers during the 19th century. Although in his music he did show some features of romanticism, he was strongly influenced by traditional genres such as counterpoint etc. In this essay, the biography of the composer, background of the genre and analysis of the piece will be investigated

Many aspects of the way people lived have changed between the times of the Romantic era and the Classic era. Music and the Enlightenment were very big helps to this major change between eras and in the way the world worked and how society functioned. The Enlightenment and the curiosity of man was the cause of the exploration and discovery of new lands all around the world. These historical landmarks were never forgotten due to the evidence being put into the literature and musical compositions that were written at the time. These stories, songs, and operas contain hidden messages and aspects in the music, such as certain rhythms and dynamics, that specifically refer directly to the eras stated previously. Artists like Mozart and Haydn, and composers of opera like Giuseppe Verdi, all have contributed to putting details of the events of the time period into their works. These genius designers have succeeded in displaying the Romantic and Classic eras in their music.