Editing Felix Mendelssohn (section)

===Conductor===
Mendelssohn was a noted conductor, both of his own works and of those by other composers. At his London debut in 1829, he was noted for his innovatory use of a [[baton (conducting)|baton]] (then a great novelty).{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=206}} But his novelty also extended to taking great care over [[tempo]], [[dynamics (music)|dynamics]] and the orchestral players themselves&nbsp;– both rebuking them when they were recalcitrant and praising them when they satisfied him.{{sfn|Brown|2003|pp=241–243, 245–247}} It was his success while conducting at the Lower Rhine music festival of 1836 that led to him taking his first paid professional position as director at Düsseldorf. Among those appreciating Mendelssohn's conducting was Hector Berlioz, who in 1843, invited to Leipzig, exchanged batons with Mendelssohn, writing "When the [[Great Spirit]] sends us to hunt in the land of souls, may our warriors hang our [[tomahawk]]s side by side at the door of the council chamber".{{sfn|Todd|2003|p=448}} At Leipzig, Mendelssohn led the [[Gewandhaus Orchestra]] to great heights; although concentrating on the great composers of the past (already becoming canonised as the "classics") he also included new music by Schumann, Berlioz, Gade and many others, as well as his own music.{{sfn|Mercer-Taylor|2000|pp=143–145}} One critic who was not impressed was Richard Wagner; he accused Mendelssohn of using tempos in his performances of Beethoven symphonies that were far too fast.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=272}}