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 MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY 383 This was followed by other short treatises, which were collected under the title of Philo- sophiscJie Schriften (Berlin, 1761). He was one of the most active contributors to the Bi- ~blioihelt, der scho'nen Wissenschaften, and to the Briefe, die neueste Literatur ~betreffend. In 1763 the royal academy of Berlin awarded him the prize for a memoir on the question : " Are metaphysics susceptible of mathematical de- monstration? " though Kant was one of his competitors. The death of his first child in the same year was the occasion of his defend- ing Spalding against Abbt in their controversy on human destiny; and subsequently, imitating Plato's " Phsedo," and adding all the arguments for the immortality of the soul suggested by the philosophy of later periods, he produced his Phcedon, oder uber die TJn&terblichlceit der Seele (Berlin, 1767), which was soon translated into almost all European languages, as well as into Hebrew. Mendelssohn's fame was at its height when he received a public challenge from La- vater either to refute Bonnet's arguments in support of Christianity or to renounce Judaism. He answered the challenge with an adroitness and candor that drew from Lavater an apolo- gy and retraction of his peremptory address. The agitation caused by this matter induced a long and dangerous illness. Mendelssohn exerted an immense influence by his efforts for the elevation of his coreligionists. His German translation of the Pentateuch and met- rical version of the Psalms are admirable for elegance and perspicuity; and their publica- tion, accompanied by Scriptural comments in Hebrew by himself and a circle of friends, marks an epoch in the history of modern Ju- daism. In defence of the rights of his Jew- ish brethren he wrote the introduction to his translation of Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel's "Defence of the Jews" (Berlin, 1782). In 1783 appeared his Jerusalem, oder uber religiose Macht und Judenihum, a vindication both of religious tolerance and of Judaism, and still one of the best books on those topics. He published in 1785 Morgenstunden, consisting of lectures on the existence of God. It contains an affectionate memorial of Lessing, and was the occasion of Jacobi's letters to him Ueber die Lehre des Spinoza, in which Lessing was charged with being a Spinozist. Mendelssohn immediately answered in a dissertation ad- dressed An die Freunde Lessings. His health was seriously injured by the excitement attend- ing this effort, and a slight cold terminated fatally. The most complete edition of his works appeared under the care of his grand- son G. B. Mendelssohn (7 vols., Leipsic, 1843- '5). His life has been written, among others, by Samuels (2d ed., London, 1822) and Kay- serling (Berlin, 1862). MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, Felix, a German composer, born in Hamburg, Feb. 3, 1809, died in Leipsic, Nov. 4, 1847. He was a grandson of Moses Mendelssohn. His father, Abraham Mendelssohn, had added the name of Bartholdy 546 VOL. XL 25 to his own, out of regard to his wife, a lady of the Bartholdy family. He became a convert to Christianity, and Felix was brought up in the Lutheran faith in Berlin, where his father h'ad founded with his brother Joseph the bank- ing firm of Mendelssohn and co., still contin- ued by the brothers of Felix. Goethe was foremost among the many distinguished per- sons who became interested in his precocious genius. He was not six years old when he dis- played his skill on the piano. Zelter became his instructor in composition, the concert master Hemming on the violin, and Ludwig Berger on the piano. In his ninth year he gave his first public concert in Berlin, and a year afterward he gave one in Paris. From that time he be- gan to write compositions for the piano, violin, viola, and violoncello ; and three of his quar- tets published in 1824 still hold a place among classical musical work*. In 1825 he made a second journey to Paris with his father, who at length determined to let his son devote him- self exclusively to music. He gave successful concerts in Paris in company with Baillot, and after his return to Berlin produced in 1827 his first opera, Die Hochzeit des Gamacho, in which the principal characters of Cervantes's "Don Quixote " are introduced. But the music met with a cold reception, and the opera was im- mediately withdrawn. He now travelled sev- eral years in England, France, and Italy. His overture to Shakespeare's " Midsummer Night's Dream," composed in 1826, was received with unbounded admiration. The rest of the music for that play was written by him afterward as an accompaniment to its performance. He spent some time in Edinburgh, and immortalized the popular music of the Scotch bagpipers by his symphony in A minor, since called the Scottish symphony, which was first performed under his own direction by the London philharmonic society. Many other reminiscences of his tour through the highlands are to be found in his compositions and his orchestral pieces. His overture Die Hebriden reproduces the impres- sions which the wild shores of the Hebrides had made upon him. He endeavored to establish, in concert with Immermann, musical and dra- matic entertainments at Diisseldorf, to consist solely of the most select productions. This en- terprise failed, but increased his reputation as a conscientious artist. His residence at Berlin was embittered by the intrigues of his oppo- nents, and in 1835 he accepted the directorship of the famous Leipsic Gewandhaus concerts, which under his care attained to an unprece- dented degree of perfection. He was more ap- preciated in England than in his own country, chiefly on account of his compositions of sacred music. His oratorio "St. Paul," after being produced at Diisseldorf and Leipsic, was per- formed under his own direction at the Bir- mingham festival of Sept. 20, 1837, where it was received with great enthusiasm. His fame rests in a great measure upon this oratorio and upon that of "Elijah," which was written for