A Midwinter’s Tale of Two Mendelssohns

by Paul A. Schons

Originally published by the Germanic-American Institute in February of 2000

We commemorate the death of the philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, on January 4. We celebrate the birth of his grandson, Felix Mendelssohn on February 3.

Moses Mendelssohn was born on September 26, 1729 in Dessau, Germany. His father was the scribe, Menachem Mendel Dessau. His Jewish name was Moses Dessau, but the name he chose to use was the germanized form of ben Mendel (the son of Mendel)-- Mendelssohn. Much of the work of the philosopher was aimed at religious tolerance and the integration of Jews into mainstream German life. His chosen name reflects a part of that effort.

Moses Mendelssohn moved to Berlin in 1743, studied the philosophy of Locke, Leipniz and Wolff and became one of the leading thinkers of the German Enlightenment. He was a contemporary of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

His philosophy is a significant part of the German Enlightenment. Among his most noted books are: “Briefe über die Empfindung” (“Letters on the subject of Feeling"), “Phädon, oder über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele” (“Phaedo, or the Immortality of the Soul”), “Jerusalem, oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum” (Jerusalem, or Religious Power and Judaism”) and “Morgenstunden” (“Morning Hours”). He was highly respected in his own times and earned the nickname, “the German Socrates”. But he is most recognized today as the model for the character, Nathan, in the play written by his friend, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, “Nathan der Weise” (“Nathan the Wise”), in 1779. The Lessing play is the quintessential work on religious tolerance in the German Enlightenment. It is well worth reading, should you have the time on one of these cold winter days.

Moses Mendelssohn’s son Abraham was to be the father of the beloved composer, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy(1809-1847). (The “Bartholdy” comes from the name of a wealthy uncle from whom the family inherited a fortune and property on the Spree river.) By the time Felix was born, the family had, indeed, drifted to integration into mainstream German life, as the grandfather had desired, but perhaps a bit further than he wished--Felix and his two sisters were baptized as Lutherans.


Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy and is sometimes called the German Mozart. He gave his first public performance at age 9 in Berlin. As a boy he composed 5 operas, 11 symphonies and numerous shorter pieces. His famous “Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream” was composed at age 17. He gained great admiration throughout Europe between ages 19-21 as he composed, performed and conducted in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and England.

In 1833 he became the music director in Düsseldorf and in 1835 the conductor of the renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. (Bach had brought musical fame to Leipzig and the Gewandhaus Orchestra is still today one of the world’s leading orchestras.) In Leipzig he became close friends with Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann. In 1838 Mendelssohn composed his famous “Violin Concerto in E Minor”. If you are not familiar with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, by all means make this February your introduction. It is one of the most beautiful and moving pieces ever written. Mendelssohn worked for 6 years on the composition of that concerto, although he normally composed quite rapidly like Mozart before him.

Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music in 1843 and taught composition there along with his friend Robert Schumann. In 1847 he was on tour once again, as he frequently was since his youth, when his sister, Fanny, died. Fanny had been very close to her brother, and was herself a very gifted composer (although as a woman in those days she had little chance to establish a reputation of her own). She had a brilliant musical mind and clearly had strong influence on Felix musically. After Fanny’s death when Felix was 39, his own energies and health faded quickly. He died 6 months later.

“The German Mozart” had been a child prodigy like Mozart, led a rapid life of intense work like Mozart, and died very young and quite suddenly like the Austrian composer before him.