Editing Felix Mendelssohn (section)

====Opera====
Mendelssohn wrote some [[Singspiel]]e for family performance in his youth. His opera ''[[Die beiden Neffen]]'' (''The Two Nephews'') was rehearsed for him on his 15th birthday.{{sfn|Todd|2001|loc=§2}} 1829 saw ''[[Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde]]'' (''Son and Stranger'' or ''Return of the Roamer''), a comedy of mistaken identity written in honour of his parents' silver anniversary and unpublished during his lifetime. In 1825 he wrote a more sophisticated work, ''[[Die Hochzeit des Camacho]]'' (''Camacho's Wedding''), based on an episode in ''[[Don Quixote]]'', for public consumption. It was produced in Berlin in 1827, but coolly received. Mendelssohn left the theatre before the conclusion of the first performance, and subsequent performances were cancelled.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=60–61}}

Although he never abandoned the idea of composing a full opera, and considered many subjects&nbsp;– including that of the [[Nibelungenlied|Nibelung saga]] later adapted by Wagner, about which he corresponded with his sister Fanny{{sfn|Hensel|1884|p=159 (vol. II)}}&nbsp;– he never wrote more than a few pages of sketches for any project. In Mendelssohn's last years the opera manager [[Benjamin Lumley]] tried to contract him to write an opera from Shakespeare's ''[[The Tempest]]'' on a libretto by [[Eugène Scribe]], and even announced it as forthcoming in 1847, the year of Mendelssohn's death. The libretto was eventually set by [[Fromental Halévy]].{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=118}} At his death Mendelssohn left some sketches for an opera on the story of the [[Lorelei]].{{sfn|Todd|2003|pp=560–561}}