Happy Birthday to German Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn, born 1809 in Hamburg.
"Jakob Ludwig Felix" came from a family of intellectuals. His grandfather was the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, whose ideas are credited with kick-starting the "Haskalah" [Jewish Enlightenment] renaissance of European Jewish thought. Felix studied in Paris as a child, and like Mozart, was considered a child prodigy.
Anti-Semitic German composer Richard Wagner damned Mendelssohn's work, which incited a Nazi banishment of all Mendelssohn's work during the regime. The effects of that racist denigration linger today.
Enjoy Mendelssohn's Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) Overture. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of music!
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