Felix Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the "Italian Symphony", the "Scottish Symphony", the overture "The Hebrides", his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His "Songs Without Words" are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism
Italian overture Italian overture The Italian overture is a piece of orchestral music which opened several operas, oratorios and other large-scale works in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. An Italian overture typically has a three-movement structure – the outer movements are quick, the middle movement is slow. This type of overture was particularly popular among Italian composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti, and in the early 18th century would usually be called "sinfonia". Later, to avoid confusion with other types of sinfonia/symphony, the term "Italian overture" was used more frequently. The structure of the Italian overture/sinfonia was the base from which