Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/344

MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY. 310 MENDENHALL. delssoliii',-- lim->t ailiiiveimiils, tin- lii>l pciform- aiK-c since l!aih"s dt-ath of the .Saint Matthew J'li.ssiuii. tiiok plate in Uerlin in 1S2!I. The great- est dillioulties had to be overcome, not the least being the indifference of musicians and public, but Mendelssohn brought the all'air to a tri- uniplianl issue, and thus gave the tirst impetus to the great ISach revival through which that composer at last obtained due recognition. In April, 1S2'.I, Mendelssohn made the first of sev- eral visits to England, where his former te.icher, Moscheles. was settled. He was well received socially, and his concert apjiearances both as pianist and composer were highly successful. He made a tour of Scotland and visited the Hebrides. During a visit to the ruined palace of Holyrood. with its traditions of Queen Mary, he iiit upon the beginning of his Sailch Sym- phoiiif: and his trip to the islands inspired his Bcbriihs or Fiiiyars Care overture. The germ of his Itcformation iti/iitjihoni/ also dates from this time. The ,Scotch Hymphony, however, was not completed until many years later, having its first ])erfonname in Leipzig in March, 1842, and in London at a Philharmonic concert in June of the same year. In 1830 he declined an ofTered professorship of music in the University of Berlin, and in the same year he traveled to Italy. In Home he began one of his most important works, the can- tata to Goethe's I'irst Walpiiriiis Sii/lit, and in a letter to Faimy, dated from Rome, in February, 1831. he writes that the Italian Symphony is making great progress. After various travels, in- cluding visits to Paris and Lon<lon, where his ai)pearances again were highly successful, he ac- cepted an invitation to conduct a music festival at Diisseldorf. This led to his taking, in 1833, the post of musical director of the city, where he remaincil. (|uickcning the musical life of the place and engaging in the composition of tlu- greater part of his oratorio of Saint Paul, until 1835, when he became conductor of the famous (Jewand- haus concerts in Leipzig. Here his activity was of the utmost importance. He not only brought the orchestra to a high state of perfection, but he was chiefly instrumental in the founding of the Leipzig Conservatory. His oratorio of Saint Paul was brought out at the Lower Rhenish Musical Festival (q.v. ), at Diisseldorf. under his own direction, in May, 1836. In 1837 he married Cecile .lean-Kenaud, the daughter of a French clergj-man in Frank- fort. Their union was a most happy one. Dur- ing fiis incumbency at Leipzig he made frequent tours, and in 1841 went, at the invitiition of Frederick William IV.. to Berlin, and at his instigation composed the music to (FiliiHis, (KilipiiM Cnl'inos, and Aniiiinnr : ithaliv; and the rest of his music to the Miilsanimrr yiyht's Itrram. Late in 1S42 he returned to Leipzig. Previously during that year he had visited Eng- land for the seventh time, and by invitation had played for Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort nt llui'kinghani Palace. In 1844 he was again in England, and in August, 184fi. brouglit out with oviTwhelining success at the Birmingham festival his onitorii> Elijah. In 1847 the sudden death of his ludoved sister Fanny came as a great shock to him. and his system, weakened by overwork, snccunibod. In September, in Leipzig, while listening to his own recently com- posed Night Song, he swooned away. Xcrvous prostration followed, and on November 4th he died. Probably no composer ever was so feted during his lifetime or lost so much ground after his death as Mendelssohn. He was the idol of the public and a large circle of friends. In England his popularity amounted to a Men- delssohn worship. His music, polished like him- self, perfect in form, melodious, easily under- stood, and not too dillicult technically, inune- dfately became poiiular in concert and drawing rooms. It presented no problems and solved none. He was, as a rule, a rapid producer; the music to Antigone was composed in eleven days. But the very quality which made his music attain such immediate popularity, a certain su- perficial prettiness, has caused much of it to be laid aside. His oratories still are given, and the Elijah especially holds its own: tin- violin concerto is an admirable composition; the Mid- summer yight's Dream overture has fairylike grace ; certain Songs Without Words and the Variations scrieuses have a definite value in the pianoforte curriculum; and several of his choral works are highly valued. But the bulk of his product is less and less heard of. As a conductor his attitude toward new departures was not , friendly. Wagner's Tannhiiuser overture he played at a Gewandhaus concert 'as a warning example.' But for Bach and the appreciation of Beethoven's later works he did much. Consult: Lampadius, Life of Mendelssohn (English translation by Gage, London, 1876), a standard work: Kockstro, Mcndels.'iohn, "Great Musicians Scries" (London. 1890). an excellent short life; Hensel. The Mendelssohn Familg, 1720-lS.i7, from Letters and -Journals (English translation by Carl Klingemann. Xevv York, 1881); Schubring. h'eminiscenres of Felix Men- delssohn, in the Lonihm Miisieal World for May 12 and 10. 18ti(J: lliller, Mendelssohn, Letters and Itecolleetions (London. 1874) ; and an exhaustive biogra|)hy in (^rove. Dietionary of Music (iiid M usiriiiiis I T.ondon. 1800). MENDELSSOHN SCHOLAKSHIP. The most valualile musical |irize in (ireat Britain, which entitles its liolder to a course of study abroad. The movement for founding such a scholarship began in 1848. when the proceed* from a performance of Elijah were set aside for the pur])Ose. In ISoO the first scholar. Arthur Sullivan, was elected. The capital has been gradually added to until the annuity now con- sists of "about five hundred dollars. There is also a Mendelssohn scholarship in Berlin, whose value is about seven hundred and twenty dollars, half of which is awarded to composers and half to virtuosos. MENDENHALL. menMrnhnl. Thomas Cob- wi. (1811 — I. An .merican physicist, born near Ilanoverton, Ohio. He received a common school education, became professor of physics and me<4ianics in the Ohio State Tniversity in 1873. and in 1878 accepted the chair of physics in the Imperial I'niversity at Tokio. .lapan. llis labors there were later incorporated into the Goveniment meteorological system: and he was also one of the founders of the Tokio Seis- mological Society, lie returned to Ohio in 1881, perfected the Ohio St.ate weather service, and in 1884 was called to the United States Signal Ser- vice at Washington. In 1886 he was mad»