Felix Mendelssohn

Born in Hamburg in 1809 and died in Leipzig on 4 November 1847. His family had become a renowned intellectual and artistic centre, frequented by Hegel and his first music teacher, Zelter.
Noticed at a very young age, notably by Goethe, Felix Mendelssohn conducted his first opera at the age of fifteen. At sixteen, he had already composed his twelve symphonies for string orchestra, his first symphony, a string octet, as well as five concertos for violin and piano. He played with his older sister Fanny Mendelssohn, who was also a piano virtuoso and to whom he remained very close throughout his life. Music director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig from 1835, he was called to Berlin in the 1840s by the King of Prussia, Frederick William IV. He became friends with Robert Schumann, who saw him as the "Mozart of the 19th century". Mendelssohn's lyrical and highly formal musical style (with frequent use of ostinato), later giving way to the use of dissonance and incisive contrasts, made him one of the most important composers of the 19th century. (www.wikipedia.fr)