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====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 ... 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 – 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}}
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