Preview

Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
837 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper
Heather Holzopfel
The Understanding of Music
Professor Kramer
March 26, 2012
Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany on February 3, 1809. He was one of four children, Fanny, Rebekah, and Paul were his siblings. He showed off his talent at a young age by playing the piano, violin, painting and gifted in many languages. When he moved to Berlin, Felix studied piano and composition under Ludwig Berger and Karl F. Zelter. Zelter took his 12 year old student to visit Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German poet. Goethe was very fascinated by the young man and later heard his B minor pianoforte quartet and showed such appreciation that Mendelssohn dedicated the piece to Goethe. Not only did Mendelssohn find inspiration in the works of Goethe, but he also was inspired byt the works of William Shakespeare. …show more content…
Mendelssohn then went on to study at Berlin University where he decided that music was his passion and chosen profession. After his college years, Mendelssohn traveled and performed all around Europe. In 1812 he visited London, a city where he quite enjoyed performing, and he performed his “Hebrides Overture”. “In 1833, he took on the post of conductor at Düsseldorf, giving concert performances of Handel 's "Messiah" among others. That same year, he composed many of his own vocal works, including "Lord, Have Mercy Upon Us,", and the Opera, "Trala. A frischer Bua bin i", as well as the "Italian Symphony"”
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Ruth Lilly Performance Hall Analysis
    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ruth Lilly Performance Hall Analysis

    During the early years of his life, he wrote poetry and musical compositions without any formal instruction, and his first musical composition was published at the age of seven. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he began to receive great theory, melody, and harmony instruction. He would later move to Vienna, Austria, and performed many of his works at the Karntner Theater in 1829. Romanticism was predominantly a German aesthetic which spanned from 1800-1850, with characteristics that include; dynamics, big orchestras, more emotional, and technical virtuosity. The Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60 written by Chopin gained its popularity due to the 12/8 time instead of 6/8time. The left-hand plays the ostinato accompaniment with the melody in the A-major key, building up to the F-sharp major opening theme. Johann Sebastian Back was born in Germany in 1685 primarily a Baroque era composer, with many of his pieces and performances were written for harpsichord and organ. Many of his pieces were written for the church, coming from a long line of family musicians. The piece performed at the concert that was written by Bach was Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 which is only one of seven that were originally written for harpsichord and later reworked for piano. In this song, his form mimics Vivaldi’s form of Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation, that he employed in many of his concertos. I think the best part about the performance of the seven that he wrote, is that they were written for young professional and student players to perform, at a local Collegium…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Benjamin Bach Research Paper
    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Benjamin Bach Research Paper

    This journal is all about one of the most famous and successful German composer of the Baroque period. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach Germany in 1685 he had seven siblings which made him the youngest out of all his brothers and sisters. His father Johann Ambrosius Bach was the director of the town musicians and his uncles were professional musicians. Bach was surrounded by music and musicians his whole child hood, this influenced him to have a love for music. When both of his parents died in 1694 he went to live with his older brother Johann Christopher Bach who was the organist at St. Michael`s church. This is when the young Bach studied copied, and performed music. His brother taught him how to play the clavichord and introduced him to the works of many great composers of the time. By early 1700 Bach was enrolled in St. Michael`s school in Luneburg where he sang in the choir as well as played the organ and harpsicord. In 1706 Bach started his work as the organist at the Blasius church in Muhlhausen, but by t 1708 he left to go to Weimar this is where he started his period of sustained composing.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper
    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper

    Felix Mendelssohn was not only an accepted composer and pianist, but also a sensitive painter, skillful writer, and fluent in three languages aside from his native deutsch tongue. The genesis of Mendelssohn's successful life in the arts, began with piano lessons from his mother. He was later taught by Marie Bigot in Paris, and eventually tutored by Ludwig Berger, a former student of Clementi's. Young Mendelssohn also studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter, a keen enthusiast of J.S.Bach. Zelter's appreciation for Bach's music was passed on to his student, and Mendelssohn himself became a devout admirer of Bach. Mendelssohn was not only an accepted composer and pianist, but also a sensitive painter, skillful writer, and fluent in three languages aside from his native deutsch tongue. When Mendelssohn was 20, he conducted Bach's oratio Saint Matthew's Passion. It's performance not sparked afresh a new interest in the music of Bach, but also gained him "respect and recognition" in the realm of music. Six years later, Mendelssohn was made the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and under his direction it developed into one of the finest in all Europe. A few years prior to his…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper
    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper

    Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685. He was taught to play the violin and harpsichord by his father, Johann Ambrosius, a court trumpeter in the service of the Duke of Eisenach. Young Johann was not yet ten when his father died, leaving him orphaned. He was taken in by his recently…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Johan Sebastian Bach Essay
    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Johan Sebastian Bach Essay

    Johan Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany on March 31, 1685. Bach had prestigious musical lineage and took multiple organist positions during the eighteenth century, creating famous pieces such as “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” also, and “Mass in B Minor,” The “Brandenburg Concertos and “The Well-Tempered Clavier” Bach came from a family of musician. Bach’s father worked as the town musician in Eisenach. Where he taught Bach how to play the violin. At age seven, Bach went to school where he received religious studies and Latin studies and others courses. His faith would improve his later musical works. At the age of ten, Bach discovered to be an orphan after the death of both of his parents. His older brother Christoph provides some further musical instruction to Bach to enroll him in a local school.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Moses Mendelssohn Father Of The Jewish Enlightenment
    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Moses Mendelssohn Father Of The Jewish Enlightenment

    Moses Mendelssohn was born in 1729 and passed away in 1786. Mendelssohn was born in Dessau, Germany. At the age of fourteen he followed his teacher to Berlin. Mendelssohn was an extremely important and appreciated man in the Jewish religion; this is as he is considered the Father of the Jewish Enlightenment. He was able to change the ways in which the Jewish people lived and broke down the boundaries of the ghettos walls. Moving to Berlin he held an employment as an educator to the children of a silk manufacture. He was able to get the status of a privileged Jew; this status was mostly for the merchants and financiers or physicians or treated non-Jewish people. Mendelssohn accomplished many ideas during his life he was able to introduce the…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Igor Stravinsky Research Paper
    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Igor Stravinsky Research Paper

    Igor Stravinsky was born in Russia on June 5, 1882 to Feodor Stravinsky. His first education in music came through being taught piano lessons at his home. He would later attend St. Petersburg University where he would further his musical education. His first substantial music writing was in E Flat and it was called “The Firebird.” After this show was debuted by a ballet and was a success, he wrote Petruska. His next major music scene was his third ballet called “The Rite of Spring.” This marked the beginning of modernism in music and made Stravinsky the most influential composer of that time.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sebastian Bach Research Paper
    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sebastian Bach Research Paper

    Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in history. “People felt his music and art helped protect people against the advance of doubt bred by the renaissance ideas of scientific, rational inquiry.”(The World Book Encyclopedia 2012. Chicago, IL: World Book, 2012. Print). He bought music techniques such as Counterpoint (playing of two or more melodies at one time) and Fugue(where different instruments repeat the same melody with slight variation) to their greatest heights. He wrote nearly 300 religious and non-religious choral work called Cantatas. The purpose of this project is to analyze the two-movements of Bach, Preludes, and Fugues to find out if there are any mathematical patterns in these pieces.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Irving Berlin Research Paper
    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Irving Berlin Research Paper

    Brin’s coming to America has led to one of the most important contributions to the internet, but undoubtedly, this isn't the only aspect of American culture, where we can evidence Russian influx. No greater compliment could be paid to a Russian immigrant, or immigrant, for that matter, than to use Jerome Kern’s words stating that Irving Berlin, the Belarussian composer, had no place in American music, but rather was American music (Johnson 56). Irving Berlin was born in Siberia, Russia, the youngest of eight children, during a time of turbulence within the Soviet world. As if the harsh environment of Siberia were not enough of an unfavorable start for the young Irving, his birth to a Jewish family provided even more challenges. For after the…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mozart Research Paper
    • 1952 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Mozart Research Paper

    Music. Fascinating both by it's diverse individual styles and the inevitable fusion of different genres which in turn have created other completely new and unique styles of music. Classical music is a perfect example. The earliest forms of classical music were composed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and displayed a very complicated and sophisticated form of writing incorporating a wide range of instruments and used the principle of multi instrumentation which achieved a very full symphonic sound which in turn led to the creation of specially designed halls to facilitate the sound. The origins of the music were also diverse, many compositions having been written for the stage, composers such as ‘Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky' who…

    • 1952 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Andy Warhol Research Paper
    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Andy Warhol Research Paper

    On August 6, 1928, Andy Warhol was born as Andrew Warhola to Andrej and Julia Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They were a working class family that stuck close to the roots and traditions of their Eastern European heritage. In 1934 Andy began attending the local Holmes School and took free art classes at Carnegie Institute (now the Carnegie Museum of Art). Andy had an amazing gift for drawing even from a very young age. In addition to drawing, Andy was fascinated by Hollywood cinema and spent much of his time at the local cinema. He also enjoyed taking pictures that he developed by himself in his basement. Through out the years Andy continued to pursue his artistic abilities and became astoundingly famous for them. More than twenty years…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Claude Debussy Research Paper
    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Claude Debussy Research Paper

    I decided to write about Claude Debussy because I believe he was an extraordinary composer and his works really influenced the 20th century. Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862, in France. Debussy, showed a significant interested in piano since he was a kid. This passion about piano, opened the door for a new path regarding music, that changed his life in a very good and beneficial way. Although, he did not come from a rich family, Debussy became a very honorable person. His journey in the music’s life started at the age of 7, when he began to take piano lesson. As a result, he entered at the Paris conservatory at the age of 11. During his years at the conservatory, he showed his talent and outstanding confidence while playing the piano.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay - George Frideric Handel
    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay - George Frideric Handel

    George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany on February 23, 1685. He was born about a month before J.S. Bach. He was the son of a barber-surgeon who wanted him to study law, but he allowed him to study music. His family was not musically inclined, but Handel was attracted to music and opera at a young age. He became a student of Zachow, the principal organist in Halle. When he was seventeen, he was appointed organist of the Calvinist Cathedral, but a year later he left for Hamburg. At age eighteen he moved to Hamburg, the center of German opera at the time. He got a job in the opera orchestra playing the violin and the harpsichord. Eventually he had an opera of his own produced.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Goethe
    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Goethe

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in August 28, 1749, Frankfurt. He was not an aristocrat but raised in a middle class family. Goethe grew up close to art and literature, at age 8 he wrote a poem; at 13 he first published his very own collection of poetry. He studied law in college and opened up his own office as told by his father, but his interest was already leaned toward literature world. Since then he gathered around with other writers, focus on more variety of books, and study poetries and dramas.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper
    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper

    He would make minor repairs and replacement to Ohrdruf Church 's organ. The organ was the most complicated machine in any European town and provided Bach with a unique understanding of the instrument. He sought out many great organists and spent a lot of time with musicians. After graduating at 18, he took a post as an organist at Arnstadf in 1703 but left quickly because he felt to cramped. Soon after leaving the job in Arnstadf, he was offered a more lucrative organist post in Mühlhausen. Here, Bach wrote some of his earliest extant compositions but much of it has been lost. In 1708 Bach took a position as court organist and concert master at the ducal court in Weimar. For this position, he had the chance to not only play the organ but compose a variety of music. While working in Weimar, Bach began to work on the Orqelbüchlein, or book of music for traditional Lutheran hymns. Political tensions began to show in the ducal court of Weimar and Bach began to look for a more stable job. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen hired him to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music). Prince Leopold was a musician as well and appreciated Bach 's talent. The prince was also Calvinist and did not use elaborate music to worship so most of Bach work from this time is simple. In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor and Musical Director of the Thomaskirche, Leipzig. This job required him to instruct students at the St.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics