Text Box:  11. Our next composer is Felix Mendelssohn, a German of Jewish descent, who lived from 1809 to 1847…being yet another great composer who died young…in this case, at only 38 years old. Seems like many of the composers died young doesn’t it? Remember, though, that we are talking about men who lived during times when germs weren’t even believed to exist. The average life expectancy in 1900 was only 49 years old, and these doctors lived before that time. Anyone who ever been to wedding will know this one of Mendelssohn’s most famous works, his Wedding March, from his incidental music written in 1843 to Shakespeare’s play, A Mid Summer’s Night’s Dream. Incidental music is music played during a spoken play. It often sets a mood…what we would call today, background music. Mendelssohn’s ranking by Goulding is Number 11. An interesting fact about Mendlessohn is that family changed its name from Mendelssohn to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, to make sure everyone knew they had certainly converted to Christianity. Jews were discriminated against in the arts in those days, and father Mendelssohn didn’t want his son Felix’s Jewish background to affect his musical success. So if you see his name as Mendelssohn-Bartholdi, you know why. :