The Mendelssohn Scholarship (German: Mendelssohn-Stipendium) refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to continue their development.
Shortly after Mendelssohn's death in 1847, a group of his friends and admirers formed a committee in London to establish a scholarship to enable musicians to study at the Leipzig Conservatoire, which Mendelssohn had founded in 1843. Their fundraising included a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah in 1848, featuring Jenny Lind. The link between London and Leipzig fell through, resulting in two Mendelssohn Scholarships. [1] [2]
In Germany, the Mendelssohn Scholarship was established in the 1870s as two awards of 1500 Marks, one for composition and one for performance, for any student of a music school in Germany, and was funded by the Prussian state as part of an arrangement under which the Mendelssohn family donated the composer's manuscripts to the state. [3] The first recipient was the composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, who used it to travel to Italy in 1879.
Funded by the Jewish Mendelssohn family, the award was discontinued by the Nazis in 1934. It was revived by the Ministry of Culture of the former East Germany in 1963, in the form of two annual prizes for composition and for performance. It is now awarded by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
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As well as Humperdinck, famous recipients include the pianist Wilhelm Kempff and the composer Kurt Weill.
The following is an incomplete chronological list of recipients of the German Mendelssohn Scholarship.
The funds raised at the 1848 concert were invested and allowed to accumulate until 1856, when Arthur Sullivan was elected as the first scholar. Since then it has been awarded from time to time, administered by the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, which is linked to the Royal Academy of Music. The foundation was created by a trust deed in 1871. Its trustees include the composers Anthony Payne and Justin Connolly, and the principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood; and its charitable objects are "For the education of musical students of both sexes in pursuance of the intentions of the founders". [18]
Recipients include the composers Frederick Corder, George Dyson, [19] Malcolm Arnold and Kenneth Leighton. [20]
The following is an incomplete chronological list of recipients of the British Mendelssohn Scholarship. [21]
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto, the String Octet, and the melody used in the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.
Fanny Mendelssohn was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was known as Fanny Hensel after her marriage. Her compositions include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, more than 125 pieces for the piano and over 250 lieder, most of which were unpublished in her lifetime. Although lauded for her piano technique, she rarely gave public performances outside her family circle.
Carl Adolph Schuricht was a German conductor.
The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (German: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatorium der Musik (Conservatory of Music), it is the oldest university school of music in Germany.
Johanna Senfter was a German composer.
Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 2 in F minor, Op. 2, for piano, violin, viola and cello was published in 1823, a year after his first Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1. This work was dedicated to Carl Friedrich Zelter, who became Mendelssohn's composition and music tutor starting at the age of eight years old. Zelter would take Mendelssohn on trips to go see Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was also an important figure in Mendelssohn's life when it came to the composition of his earliest pieces between the years 1821-1825. Mendelssohn's three piano quartets were the first piano quartets he composed and published. He composed the second quartet at the age of only 14 years.
Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer of classical music. She studied with noted musicians Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner, but her primary instructor was Josef Gabriel Rheinberger. Like many other 19th century female composers, Le Beau began her career in music as a pianist, and later earned her living teaching, critiquing, and performing music.
The Mendelssohn family are the descendants of Mendel of Dessau. The German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and his brother Saul were the first to adopt the surname Mendelssohn. The family includes his grandchildren, the composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Felix.
Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer. He is known widely for his opera Hansel and Gretel (1893).
Richard Sahla was a concert violinist, conductor and composer.
Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen, MWV B 53, is the incipit of a motet for an eight-part choir a cappella by Felix Mendelssohn. He wrote it in 1844 for the Berlin Cathedral, setting verses 11 and 12 from Psalm 91. Later, Mendelssohn made the motet with accompaniment part of his oratorio Elijah. It was published in 1844, and by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1875 in the complete edition of the composer's works.
Peter Bruns is a German cellist and university professor.
Rudolf Elvers was a German musicologist and librarian. He was particularly concerned with the work of Felix Mendelssohn.
Hans-Günter Klein was a German musicologist, librarian, art historian, LGBT activist and researcher on the Mendelssohn family.
Reinhard Pfundt is a German pianist, composer and academic teacher at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. He wrote orchestral works, chamber music and songs, and was awarded prizes in the German Democratic Republic (DDR).
Thuon Burtevitz, is a German composer.
The Mendelssohn Scholarship, awarded by the Prussian State from 1879 to 1936, was revived in 1963 by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The Foundation awards the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Prize once a year per competition opened to particularly talented students at one of the 23 recognised music academies in Germany.
Alfred Wittenberg was a German violinist, pianist and music educator.
Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn is a German violinist and music educator.
Luiza Borac is a Romanian classical pianist.
Official website of the UK Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation