Today we mark the 212^th birth anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn, German composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. Felix Mendelssohn was the prominent German composer, pianist, vocalist, teacher and conductor. To commemorate the birthday of the composer, we have prepared a musical selection comprised of his works, recorded from musical media stored in the museum Collection musical Library.

Several interesting facts about Felix Mendelssohn, one of the greatest exponents of romanticism in music:

- Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (widely known as Felix Mendelssohn) was born in the Jewish family of banker Abraham Mendelssohn. The composer's grandfather was a famous philosopher, founder of the Haskalah movement*, Moses Mendelssohn.
- Mendelssohn's first piano concert took place when he was 9 years old and at the age of 11, young composer created his first musical works, sonatas for piano, violin and organ.
- Felix Mendelssohn founded in Leipzig the first conservatory in Germany.
- During his life, Mendelssohn composed more than 100 major works and many small ones.
- The famous Wedding March by Mendelssohn was written for William Shakespeare's comedy “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
- The famous German composer Carl Friedrich Zelter was a friend of Felix Mendelssohn father. He recognized the boy's talent and advised his parents to develop it.
- Felix Mendelssohn was an excellent conductor; he personally conducted his own concerts.

* The Haskalah, often termed Jewish Enlightenment (literally, "wisdom", "erudition"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with certain influence on those in Western Europe and the Muslim world. It arose as a defined ideological worldview during the 1770s, and its last stage ended around 1881, with the rise of Jewish nationalism.