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
Overture as his "Tragic Overture", Op. 81. An example clearly influenced by the symphonic poem is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture". His equally well-known "Romeo and Juliet" is also labelled a 'fantasy-overture'. In European music after 1900, an example of an overture displaying a connection with the traditional form is Dmitri Shostakovich's "Festive Overture", Op. 96 (1954), which is in two linked sections, "Allegretto" and "Presto" (Temperely 2001). Malcolm Arnold's "A Grand, Grand Overture", Op. 57 (1956), is a 20th-century parody of the late 19th century concert overture, scored for an enormous orchestra with organ, additional brass instruments, and obbligato parts for four