Klarinet Archive - Posting 000200.txt from 1997/07

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Dave Blumberg's material about Mendelssohn
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:55:14 -0400

I think that Dave and I agree that nothing in the Grove's article
contradicted what I said about Mendelssohn. In fact, it did not
say a single word on the matter that we had discussed.

Unfortunately for Dave, he stumbled into an area in which I had
done a great deal of research, namely Mendelssohn's background.
I was involved in a genealogic study of the composer's ancestry,
and specifically to Meir Katzenellenbogan of Padua who died in the
late 1500s and is buried in that city. His tombstone was re-
erected 400 years after he died because it had become unreadable.
Also descended from this man is Karl Marx, David Halberstamm,
Helena Rubenstein (makeup queen) and about 10,000 other people.

Meir's son moved to Poland and became such a respected member of
the social hierarchy that, when the king of Poland died and a
replacement could not be elected at once (it was a democratic
monarchy, not an hereditary one), Katzenellenbogen was elected
king of Poland for a single night or until the election held the
next day.

Now Felix was a direct descendant of this man through his
grandmother (yesterday I said his mother, but I was mistaken) and
apparently the story of this "king of Poland" was a tradition in
the family about which Felix knew and commented on in letters.

Well, it seems there was a biography of three generations of
the Mendelssohn family (from Moses, the grandfather to Felix
to son) covering three generations and in the book, the biographer
voiced objections to "the fairy story" that Felix had an
ancestor who was king of Poland. So I sent the author the
absolutely certain facts of his exact ascendancy to the
one night king, giving every detailed source that we had, which
was more than ample, I assure you.

The book was revised. If you get it from the library, be sure
to ask for the second edition where this matter is cleared up.

As for Felix's father, he made only one statement in his entire
life worth quoting. You must remember that his father was the
famous Moses Mendelssohn. So the quote, said by Felix's father
is this: "When I was a young man, I was known as my father's
son. Today, I am known as my son's father." Great line.

The grandfather, Moses, had an intellect that was so profound
that he became integrated into German society and influenced
its social policies enormously, despite the fact that he refused
to convert. It was his marriage to his wife that brought the
prestigeous part of Felix's genealogy to him, not his own.
Moses himself came from poor, undistinguished people, not dumb,
just poor.

I sometimes think that Felix was the greatest musical genius
who ever lived, to some extent even more profound, for a short
period, than Mozart. My goodness, the things he turned out
at 15, 16, and 17 (which is how old he was when he wrote the
overture to Midsummer Night's Dream) were so remarkable and
profound as to shock one even to this day. The problem is
that he peaked early and never grew beyond his late teen age
years. Evidence of this can be found in the incidental music
of Midsummer Night's Dream, which he did in his early 30s.
Only his remarkable ability to go back to the age of 17 and
use the powers he had then to mimic what he wrote at that age
produced such a remarkable work. When he wrote as a 30 year
old, he got stodgy oratorios, and the Reformation Symphony.

In effect, he died at 18. Oh he lived and breated and ate,
but his spark of genius faded fast.

But his greatest contribution to music was the reestablishment
of J.S. Bach to the pinnacle position he now holds.

I have read a number of letters he wrote in English, and it
was so very good and so very fluent that I cannot understand
how he learned it with such facility.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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