German composer Felix Mendelssohn has been commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque in London.
It has been placed at the Grade II listed 4 Hobart Place, where the pianist stayed in on numerous visits to London at the height of his fame.
The popular Romantic era musician was a favourite of Queen Victoria.
At the unveiling, "honoured" violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky described Mendelssohn as one of his "favourite composers".
Sitkovetsky said he is "somebody that I've not only always played, but adored as a person".
London berth
The musician stayed at the location for approximately four months.
Suzy Klein from BBC Radio 3 programme In Tune, who was at the ceremony, said: "Then it was the home of the Hanoverian Embassy Secretary Carl Klingerman.
"Mendelssohn went on all sorts of jaunts from here. He had dinner with [engineer] Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who he apparently didn't get on with, [author] Charles Dickens, who he did get on with and he had an audience with Queen Victoria and then rushed back here to tell everyone delightedly about it."
Mendelssohn's most-performed works include his Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, his Violin Concerto and his String Octet.
The UK has long been a nurturing place for classical musicians, hosting Mozart, Handel and Haydn.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican Centre, former BBC Proms director and member of the blue plaque panel, was also at the ceremony.
He said a key factor in Mendelssohn being widely accepted in the UK was largely down to its enduring choral tradition.
"It was a major factor in the 19th Century, which enabled him to have his works well done here, and as we know they then became accepted into the warp and weft of the English choral tradition in a very major way and Elijah (his oratorio) absolutely stood at the centre of that."
Century-long delay
Mendelssohn's blue plaque has been a long time coming, having been approved more than a century ago.
As for why it took so long to come to fruition, Sir Nicholas said: "The people at that time who owned the building didn't want a blue plaque on it and the file simply mouldered [sic] away until Howard Spencer of the blue plaque team had a new discussion about it and revived the idea."
English Heritage, due to celebrate 150 years of commemorative plaques in London in 2016, recently had its funding cut by 34%.
The organisation has had to look for huge savings, but Sir Nicholas said it is still very much behind the blue plaque system.
He said: "What we are having to say at the moment is because there is a huge backlog of nominations for the scheme, there won't be any new nominations for the next couple of years, but plaques will continue to go up."
German Romantic composer, pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn wrote Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream and founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music.
Synopsis
Felix Mendelssohn was born on February 3, 1809, in Hamburg, Germany. At age 9, he made his public debut in Berlin. In 1819, he joined the Singakademie music academy and began composing non-stop. At Singakademie, he also became a conductor, but continued to compose prolifically. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music in 1843. He died on November 4, 1847, in Leipzig.
Childhood
Pianist, composer and conductor Felix Mendelssohn was born Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3, 1809. His parents were Jewish, but converted to Christianity before he, his brother and two sisters were born. When Mendelssohn was 2 years old, he moved to Berlin with his parents and siblings. In Berlin, the young Mendelssohn began taking piano lessons with Ludwig Berger. Mendelssohn also studied composition under composer K.F. Zelter as a child. In 1816, he broadened his lessons, studying under pianist Marie Bigot during an extended stay in Paris, France.
Mendelssohn was quick to establish himself as a musical prodigy. During his childhood, he composed five operas and 11 symphonies. At just 9 years old, he made his public debut in Berlin.
Early Work
In 1819, Felix Mendelssohn joined the Singakademie music academy and began composing non-stop. In 1820 alone, he wrote a violin sonata, two piano sonatas, multiple songs, a cantata, a brief opera and a male quartet. In 1826, Mendelssohn produced one of his best known works, Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream. He presented his only opera, The Marriage of the Camacho, the following year in Berlin.
At Singakademie, Mendelssohn also became a conductor. In 1829, he conducted a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The performance's success led to other great opportunities, including a chance to conduct the London Philharmonic Society that same year.
Mendelssohn continued to compose prolifically while working as a conductor. He wrote the Reformation Symphony in 1830, and followed that accomplishment with a three-year European tour. During that time, he published his first book of songs, entitled Songs without Words (1832). Italian Symphony (1833), another of Mendelssohn's best known works, was also born of this period. In 1835, Mendelssohn was granted an illustrious role: conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.
Personal Life
In 1836, a year after his father died, Mendelssohn met Cécile Jeanrenaud, a clergyman's daughter, in Frankfurt. Mendelssohn was 10 years Jeanrenaud's senior. She was just 16 when they got engaged. The couple married on March 28, 1837. Over the course of their marriage, they had five children.
Later Work
The same year that he married, Mendelssohn composed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor. From 1838 to 1844, he toiled away on his Violin Concerto in E Minor. Prior to the piece's completion, Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music and became its director. In so doing, he put Leipzig on the map as the musical center of Germany. After finishing Violin Concerto in E Minor, Mendelssohn conducted a string of concerts for the Philharmonic. In 1846 he presented his newly written Elijah at the Birmingham Festival.
Final Years
In May 1847, Mendelssohn's sister, Fanny, who was a lifelong inspiration to him, died suddenly. Her death left him so devastated that he soon lost his own zest for life. His health, already compromised by his strenuous career, began to deteriorate rapidly. Six months later, on November 4, 1847, Felix Mendelssohn died of a ruptured blood vessel in Leipzig, Germany. He had recently returned from a brief visit to Switzerland, where he'd completed composition of his String Quartet in F Minor.
Although he was only 38 when he died, Mendelssohn managed to distinguish himself as one of the first significant Romantic composers of the 1800s.