Editing Felix Mendelssohn (section)

==Life==

===Childhood===
[[File:Mendelssohn Bartholdy 1821FXD.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=|Felix Mendelssohn aged 12 (1821) by [[Carl Joseph Begas]]]]

Felix Mendelssohn was born on 3 February 1809, in [[Hamburg]], at the time an independent [[city-state]],{{refn|Since 1806 Hamburg had been an independent city, the [[Free Imperial City]] of Hamburg; it was annexed to the [[First French Empire]] by Napoleon in 1810.|group=n}} in the same house where, a year later, the dedicatee and first performer of his Violin Concerto, [[Ferdinand David (musician)|Ferdinand David]], would be born.{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=194}} Mendelssohn's father, the banker [[Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy|Abraham Mendelssohn]], was the son of the [[History of the Jews in Germany#In the Holy Roman Empire|German Jewish]] philosopher [[Moses Mendelssohn]], whose family was prominent in the German Jewish community.{{sfn|Conway|2012|pp=147–148}} Until his baptism at age seven, Mendelssohn was brought up largely without religion.{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=33}} His mother, [[Lea Mendelssohn Bartholdy|Lea Salomon]], was a member of the [[Itzig family]] and a sister of [[Jakob Salomon Bartholdy]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=27–29}} Mendelssohn was the second of four children; his older sister [[Fanny Mendelssohn|Fanny]] also displayed exceptional and precocious musical talent.{{sfn|Moscheles|1873|p=98 (vol. I)}}

The family moved to [[Berlin]] in 1811, leaving Hamburg in disguise in fear of French reprisal for the [[Mendelssohn & Co.|Mendelssohn bank]]'s role in breaking [[Napoleon]]'s [[Continental System]] blockade.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=1}} Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give their children&nbsp;– Fanny, Felix, Paul and [[Rebecka Mendelssohn|Rebecka]]&nbsp;– the best education possible. Fanny became a pianist well known in Berlin musical circles as a composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than Felix, would be the more musical. But it was not considered proper, by either Abraham or Felix, for a woman to pursue a career in music, so she remained an active but non-professional musician.{{sfn|Conway|2012|pp=27–28}} Abraham was initially disinclined to allow Felix to follow a musical career until it became clear that he was seriously dedicated.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=115}}

Mendelssohn grew up in an intellectual environment. Frequent visitors to the [[Salon (gathering)|salon]] organised by his parents at their home in Berlin included artists, musicians and scientists, among them [[Wilhelm von Humboldt|Wilhelm]] and [[Alexander von Humboldt]], and the mathematician [[Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet]] (whom Mendelssohn's sister Rebecka would later marry).{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=92, 165}} The musician Sarah Rothenburg has written of the household that "Europe came to their living room".{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=29}}

===Surname===
Abraham Mendelssohn renounced the Jewish religion prior to Felix's birth and he and his wife decided against having Felix [[circumcision|circumcised]].{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=151}} Felix and his siblings were at first brought up without religious education; on 21 March 1816, they were baptized in a private ceremony in the family's Berlin apartment by the Reformed Protestant minister of the [[Jerusalem Church (Berlin)|Jerusalem Church]],{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=33}} at which time Felix was given the additional names Jakob Ludwig. Abraham and his wife Lea were baptised in 1822, and formally adopted the surname Mendelssohn Bartholdy (which they had used since 1812) for themselves and for their children.{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=33}}

The name Bartholdy was added at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy, who had inherited a property of this name in [[Luisenstadt]] and adopted it as his own surname.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=14–15}} In an 1829 letter to Felix, Abraham explained that adopting the Bartholdy name was meant to demonstrate a decisive break with the traditions of his father Moses: "There can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish [[Confucius]]". (Letter to Felix of 8 July 1829).{{sfn|Werner|1963|pp=36–38}} On embarking on his musical career, Felix did not entirely drop the name Mendelssohn as Abraham had requested, but in deference to his father signed his letters and had his visiting cards printed using the form 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'.{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=139}} In 1829, his sister Fanny wrote to him of "Bartholdy&nbsp;[...] this name that we all dislike".{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=31}}

===Career===

====Musical education====
Mendelssohn began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by [[Marie Bigot]] in Paris.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=35–36}} Later in Berlin, all four Mendelssohn children studied piano with [[Ludwig Berger (composer)|Ludwig Berger]], who was himself a former student of [[Muzio Clementi]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=37–38}} From at least May 1819 Mendelssohn (initially with his sister Fanny) studied [[counterpoint]] and composition with [[Carl Friedrich Zelter]] in Berlin.{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=44}} This was an important influence on his future career. Zelter had almost certainly been recommended as a teacher by his aunt [[Sara Levy (née Itzig)|Sarah Levy]], who had been a pupil of [[W. F. Bach]] and a patron of [[C. P. E. Bach]]. Sarah Levy displayed some talent as a keyboard player, and often played with Zelter's orchestra at the [[Sing-Akademie zu Berlin|Berliner Singakademie]]; she and the Mendelssohn family were among its leading patrons. Sarah had formed an important collection of Bach family manuscripts, which she bequeathed to the Singakademie; Zelter, whose tastes in music were conservative, was also an admirer of the Bach tradition.{{sfn|Werner|1963|pp=8–9}} This undoubtedly played a significant part in forming Felix Mendelssohn's musical tastes, as his works reflect this study of [[Baroque music|Baroque]] and early classical music. His [[Fugue (music)|fugue]]s and [[chorale]]s especially reflect a tonal clarity and use of counterpoint reminiscent of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], whose music influenced him deeply.{{sfn|Werner|1963|p=18}}

====Early maturity====

[[File:Octetp1.jpg|thumb|alt=|First page of the [[manuscript]] of Mendelssohn's Octet (1825) (now in the US [[Library of Congress]])]]
Mendelssohn probably made his first public concert appearance at the age of nine, when he participated in a [[chamber music]] concert accompanying a [[French horn|horn]] duo.{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=36}} He was a prolific composer from an early age. As an adolescent, his works were often performed at home with a private orchestra for the associates of his wealthy parents amongst the intellectual elite of Berlin.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=36}} Between the ages of 12 and 14, Mendelssohn wrote 13 [[String symphonies (Mendelssohn)|string symphonies]] for such concerts, and a number of chamber works.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=35–36}} His first work, a piano quartet, was published when he was 13. It was probably Abraham Mendelssohn who procured the publication of this quartet by the house of [[Adolf Martin Schlesinger|Schlesinger]].{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=242}} In 1824 the 15-year-old wrote his [[Symphony No. 1 (Mendelssohn)|first symphony]] for full orchestra (in C minor, Op.&nbsp;11).{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=80}}

At age 16 Mendelssohn wrote his [[Octet (Mendelssohn)|String Octet in E-flat major]], a work which has been regarded as "mark[ing] the beginning of his maturity as a composer."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=3182 |title=Kennedy Center notes |publisher=Kennedy-center.org |date=17 February 2011 |access-date=17 December 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616065112/http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=3182 |archive-date=16 June 2013 }}</ref> This Octet and his [[A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)#Overture|Overture]] to [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', which he wrote a year later in 1826, are the best-known of his early works. (Later, in 1843, he also wrote [[incidental music]] for the play, including the famous "[[Wedding March (Mendelssohn)|Wedding March]]".) The Overture is perhaps the earliest example of a [[concert overture]]&nbsp;– that is, a piece not written deliberately to accompany a staged performance but to evoke a literary theme in performance on a concert platform; this was a genre which became a popular form in [[Romantic music|musical Romanticism]].{{sfn|Temperley|2008|loc=§3}}

In 1824 Mendelssohn studied under the composer and piano virtuoso [[Ignaz Moscheles]], who confessed in his diaries{{sfn|Moscheles|1873|p=65}} that he had little to teach him. Moscheles and Mendelssohn became close colleagues and lifelong friends. The year 1827 saw the premiere&nbsp;– and sole performance in his lifetime&nbsp;– of Mendelssohn's opera ''[[Die Hochzeit des Camacho]]''. The failure of this production left him disinclined to venture into the genre again.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=167–168}}

Besides music, Mendelssohn's education included art, literature, languages, and philosophy. He had a particular interest in [[classical literature]]{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=70–71}} and translated [[Terence]]'s ''[[Andria (comedy)|Andria]]'' for his tutor Heyse in 1825; Heyse was impressed and had it published in 1826 as a work of "his pupil, F****" [i.e. "Felix" (asterisks as provided in original text)].{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=154}}{{refn|The translation was reprinted by [[Giovanni Mardersteig]] at the [[Officina Bodoni]] in 1971.{{sfn|Barr|1978|p=84}}|group=n}} This translation also qualified Mendelssohn to study at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]], where from 1826 to 1829 he attended lectures on aesthetics by [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], on history by [[Eduard Gans]], and on geography by [[Carl Ritter]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=171–172}}

====Meeting Goethe and conducting Bach====
In 1821 Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent, the writer [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] (then in his seventies), who was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison with [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] in the following conversation between Goethe and Zelter:

{{blockquote|"Musical prodigies&nbsp;... are probably no longer so rare; but what this little man can do in extemporizing and playing at sight borders the miraculous, and I could not have believed it possible at so early an age." "And yet you heard Mozart in his seventh year at Frankfurt?" said Zelter. "Yes", answered Goethe, "...&nbsp;but what your pupil already accomplishes, bears the same relation to the Mozart of that time that the cultivated talk of a grown-up person bears to the prattle of a child."{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=89}}}}

Mendelssohn was invited to meet Goethe on several later occasions,{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=41–42, 93}} and set a number of Goethe's poems to music. His other compositions inspired by Goethe include the overture ''[[Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Mendelssohn)|Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage]]'' (Op. 27, 1828), and the cantata ''[[Die erste Walpurgisnacht]]'' (''The First Walpurgis Night'', Op. 60, 1832).{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=188–190, 269–270}}

In 1829, with the backing of Zelter and the assistance of the actor [[Eduard Devrient]], Mendelssohn arranged and conducted a performance in Berlin of Bach's ''[[St Matthew Passion]]''. Four years previously his grandmother, [[Bella Salomon]], had given him a copy of the manuscript of this (by then all-but-forgotten) masterpiece.{{sfn|Todd|2001|loc=§2}} The orchestra and choir for the performance were provided by the Berlin Singakademie. The success of this performance, one of the very few since Bach's death and the first ever outside of [[Leipzig]],{{refn|After Bach's death in 1750, the Passion had been performed a few times until about 1800 by Bach's successors as [[Thomaskantor]] in Leipzig.{{sfn|Spitta|1972|p=568 (vol. 2)}}|group=n}} was the central event in the revival of Bach's music in Germany and, eventually, throughout Europe.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=73–75}} It earned Mendelssohn widespread acclaim at the age of 20. It also led to one of the few explicit references which Mendelssohn made to his origins: "To think that it took an actor and a Jew's son to revive the greatest Christian music for the world!"{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=193–198}}{{sfn|Devrient|1869|p=57}}

Over the next few years Mendelssohn travelled widely. His first visit to England was in 1829; other places visited during the 1830s included Vienna, Florence, Milan, Rome and Naples, in all of which he met with local and visiting musicians and artists. These years proved to be the germination for some of his most famous works, including the ''[[The Hebrides (overture)|Hebrides Overture]]'' and the ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)|Scottish]]'' and ''[[Symphony No. 4 (Mendelssohn)|Italian]]'' symphonies.{{sfn|Todd|2001|loc=§3}}

====Düsseldorf====
On Zelter's death in 1832, Mendelssohn had hopes of succeeding him as conductor of the Singakademie; but at a vote in January 1833 he was defeated for the post by [[Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen]]. This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some to be attributable to his Jewish ancestry.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=112–114}} Following this rebuff, Mendelssohn divided most of his professional time over the next few years between Britain and [[Düsseldorf]], where he was appointed musical director (his first paid post as a musician) in 1833.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=285–286}}

In the spring of that year Mendelssohn directed the [[Lower Rhenish Music Festival]] in Düsseldorf, beginning with a performance of [[George Frideric Handel]]'s oratorio ''[[Israel in Egypt]]'' prepared from the original score, which he had found in London. This precipitated a Handel revival in Germany, similar to the reawakened interest in J. S. Bach following his performance of the ''St. Matthew Passion''.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=118}} Mendelssohn worked with the dramatist [[Karl Leberecht Immermann|Karl Immermann]] to improve local theatre standards, and made his first appearance as an opera conductor in Immermann's production of Mozart's ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' at the end of 1833, where he took umbrage at the audience's protests about the cost of tickets. His frustration at his everyday duties in Düsseldorf, and the city's provincialism, led him to resign his position at the end of 1834. He had offers from both Munich and Leipzig for important musical posts, namely, direction of the [[Munich Opera]], the editorship of the prestigious Leipzig music journal the ''[[Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung]]'', and direction of the [[Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra]]; he accepted the latter in 1835.{{sfn|Todd|2001|loc=§4}}{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=303}}

====Leipzig and Berlin====
[[File:Felix Mendelssohn Leipzig study; Contemporary view.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=|The composer's study in [[Mendelssohn House, Leipzig|Mendelssohn House]], a museum in Leipzig]]

In Leipzig, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the town's musical life by working with the orchestra, the opera house, the [[Thomanerchor]] (of which Bach had been a director), and the city's other choral and musical institutions. Mendelssohn's concerts included, in addition to many of his own works, three series of "historical concerts" featuring music of the eighteenth century, and a number of works by his contemporaries.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=444–446}} He was deluged by offers of music from rising and would-be composers; among these was [[Richard Wagner]], who submitted his [[Symphony in C major (Wagner)|early Symphony]], the score of which, to Wagner's disgust, Mendelssohn lost or mislaid.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=143}} Mendelssohn also revived interest in the music of [[Franz Schubert]]. [[Robert Schumann]] discovered the manuscript of Schubert's [[Symphony No. 9 (Schubert)|Ninth Symphony]] and sent it to Mendelssohn, who promptly premiered it in Leipzig on 21 March 1839, more than a decade after Schubert's death.{{sfn|Daverio|Sams|2001|loc=§7}}

A landmark event during Mendelssohn's Leipzig years was the premiere of his oratorio ''[[St. Paul (oratorio)|Paulus]]'', (the English version of this is known as ''St. Paul''), given at the [[Lower Rhenish Music Festival|Lower Rhenish Festival]] in Düsseldorf in 1836, shortly after the death of the composer's father, which affected him greatly; Felix wrote that he would "never cease to endeavour to gain his approval&nbsp;... although I can no longer enjoy it".{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=146–147}} ''St. Paul'' seemed to many of Mendelssohn's contemporaries to be his finest work, and sealed his European reputation.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=147}}

When [[Friedrich Wilhelm IV]] came to the Prussian throne in 1840 with ambitions to develop Berlin as a cultural centre (including the establishment of a music school, and reform of music for the church), the obvious choice to head these reforms was Mendelssohn. He was reluctant to undertake the task, especially in the light of his existing strong position in Leipzig.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=403–408}} Mendelssohn nonetheless spent some time in Berlin, writing some church music such as ''[[Die Deutsche Liturgie]]'', and, at the King's request, music for productions of [[Sophocles]]'s ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'' (1841 – [[Antigone (Mendelssohn)|an overture and seven pieces]]) and ''Oedipus at Colonus'' (1845), ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1843) and [[Jean Racine|Racine]]'s ''[[Athalie]]'' (1845).{{refn|In 1842 Mendelssohn was awarded by the King the honour [[Pour le Mérite]] for Sciences and Arts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste |date=1975 |title=Die Mitglieder des Ordens. 1 1842–1881. |url=http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/mgvita/mendelssohnbartholdy1809_vita.pdf |location=Berlin |publisher=Gebr. Mann Verlag |page=66 |isbn=978-3-7861-6189-9 |access-date=9 June 2018 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127014415/https://orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/mgvita/mendelssohnbartholdy1809_vita.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>|group=n}} But the funds for the school never materialised, and many of the court's promises to Mendelssohn regarding finances, title, and concert programming were broken. He was therefore not displeased to have the excuse to return to Leipzig.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=163–164, 168–170, 182–185}}

In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a major music school&nbsp;– the Leipzig Conservatory, now the [[University of Music and Theatre Leipzig|Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy"]].{{refn|In its own English self-designation, the "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre" ([http://www.hmt-leipzig.de/en/home/hochschule/profil HMT website], accessed 6 November 2017.)|group=n}} where he persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him. Other prominent musicians, including the string players Ferdinand David and [[Joseph Joachim]] and the music theorist [[Moritz Hauptmann]], also became staff members.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=179, 198}} After Mendelssohn's death in 1847, his musically conservative tradition was carried on when Moscheles succeeded him as head of the Conservatory.{{sfn|Conway|2012|pp=193–194}}

====Mendelssohn in Britain====
[[File:FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847 Composer stayed here.jpg|thumb|upright|English Heritage [[blue plaque]] commemorating Mendelssohn's residence in England at 4 Hobart Place in Belgravia, London]]

Mendelssohn first visited Britain in 1829, where Moscheles, who had already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. In the summer he visited [[Edinburgh]], where he met among others the composer [[John Thomson (composer)|John Thomson]], whom he later recommended for the post of professor of music at [[Edinburgh University]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=214}} He made ten visits to Britain, lasting altogether about 20 months; he won a strong following, which enabled him to make a good impression on British musical life.{{sfn|Conway|2009|pp=xvi–xvii}} He composed and performed, and also edited for British publishers the first critical editions of [[oratorio]]s of Handel and of the organ music of J. S. Bach. Scotland inspired two of his most famous works: the overture ''[[The Hebrides (overture)|The Hebrides]]'' (also known as ''Fingal's Cave''); and the ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)|Scottish Symphony]]'' (Symphony No. 3).<ref>See [http://www.mendelssohninscotland.com/journey-north "The Journey North"] in [http://www.mendelssohninscotland.com/ ''Mendelssohn in Scotland''] website, accessed 9 January 2015.</ref> An [[English Heritage]] [[blue plaque]] commemorating Mendelssohn's residence in London was placed at 4 Hobart Place in [[Belgravia]], London, in 2013.<ref name='EngHet'>{{cite web| url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/#?pageBP=1&sizeBP=12&borBP=&keyBP=Felix%20Mendelssohn&catBP=|title=Mendelssohn, Felix (1809–1847)|publisher=English Heritage| access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>

His protégé, the British composer and pianist [[William Sterndale Bennett]], worked closely with Mendelssohn during this period, both in London and Leipzig. He first heard Bennett perform in London in 1833 aged 17.{{sfn|Bennett|1907|p=29}}{{refn|On this occasion, when Bennett was 17 and Mendelssohn 24, Mendelssohn immediately invited Bennett to visit him in Germany. " 'If I come', said Bennett, 'may I come to be your pupil?' 'No, no', was the reply 'you must come to be my friend.' "{{sfn|Bennett|1907|p=30}}|group=n}} Bennett appeared with Mendelssohn in concerts in Leipzig throughout the 1836/1837 season.{{sfn|Bennett|1907|p=43}}

On Mendelssohn's eighth British visit in the summer of 1844, he conducted five of the Philharmonic concerts in London, and wrote: "[N]ever before was anything like this season&nbsp;– we never went to bed before half-past one, every hour of every day was filled with engagements three weeks beforehand, and I got through more music in two months than in all the rest of the year." (Letter to Rebecka Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Soden, 22 July 1844).{{sfn|Hensel|1884|p= 292 (vol. I)}} On subsequent visits Mendelssohn met [[Queen Victoria]] and her husband [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], himself a composer, who both greatly admired his music.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=172–173}}{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=439}}

Mendelssohn's oratorio ''[[Elijah (oratorio)|Elijah]]'' was commissioned by the [[Birmingham Triennial Music Festival]] and premiered on 26 August 1846, at the [[Birmingham Town Hall|Town Hall, Birmingham]]. It was composed to a German text translated into English by [[William Bartholomew (writer)|William Bartholomew]], who authored and translated many of Mendelssohn's works during his time in England.{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=514–515}}{{sfn|Duggan|1998|pp=11–35}}

On his last visit to Britain in 1847, Mendelssohn was the soloist in [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 4]] and conducted his own ''Scottish Symphony'' with the Philharmonic Orchestra before the Queen and Prince Albert.{{sfn|Conway|2009|p=xviii}}

====Death====
[[File:Felixmendelssohngrave.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.6|alt=|Mendelssohn's gravestone at the [[Holy Trinity Church (Berlin)#Cemeteries|Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof]]]]

Mendelssohn suffered from poor health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill, and the death of his sister, Fanny, on 14 May 1847, caused him further distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, aged 38, Mendelssohn died in Leipzig after a series of strokes.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=198–203}} His grandfather Moses, Fanny, and both his parents had all died from similar [[Apoplexy|apoplexies]].{{sfn|Sterndale Bennett|1955|p=376}}{{refn|One assessment of the type of stroke from which the Mendelssohn family suffered is [[subarachnoidal hemorrhage|subarachnoidal haemorrhage]].<ref>S. Schmidler et al., [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16586256 "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847): the mystery of his early death"] (in German), in ''Fortschritte der neurologie-Psychologie'', 74 (9), September 2006, pp. 522–527, summarized in English on [[National Center for Biotechnology Information|NCBI]] website, accessed 1 March 2018.</ref>|group=n}} Although he had been generally meticulous in the management of his affairs, he died [[intestate]].{{sfn|Werner|1963|p=497}}

Mendelssohn's funeral was held at the [[Paulinerkirche, Leipzig|Paulinerkirche]], Leipzig, and he was buried at the [[Holy Trinity Church (Berlin)#Cemeteries|Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I]] in Berlin-[[Kreuzberg]]. The [[pallbearer]]s included Moscheles, Schumann and [[Niels Gade]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=567}} Mendelssohn had once described death, in a letter to a stranger, as a place "where it is to be hoped there is still music, but no more sorrow or partings."{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|p=206}}