Elmann Creative Corner Some Great Composers section one

Felix Mendelssohn, a German Jerw who lived from 1809 to 1847, was born with every advantage a young musician could have. His mother gave him music lessons from an early age, and his little sister Fanny promised to be even more brilliant than he. At the age of nine young Felix was performing in public, and at twelve he was composing his own music. He visited London and played Bach fugues on the organ at St. Poul`s Cathedral. He received so many encores that at last the vergers had to disconnect the blower from the organ to stop the music and make the people go away. Mendelssohn should have lived long and successfully, but he overworked himself and died he was forty. His best known work is the oratorio Elijah. Some people think that he owed success to the fact that he did nothing new. What he composed was in a general way like work that already found favour with public.