Unknown Mendelssohn

http://youtu.be/GveH-eLmIHk This is quite a comprehensive documentary about Felix Mendelssohn. The narrative structure is based on the original letters of Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny, combined with evocative period images. Some of the most important moments of the composer’s life such as his training, his religious and cultural identity, his journey to Italy, his relation with Bach, the Leipzig years and the recent unearthing of many of his unpublished works. A blend of music and words will guide the public through Mendelssohn’s greatest masterpieces, illustrating their poetic background with images of the places that Mendelssohn himself experienced.

Mendelssohn unknown on medici.tv.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy At just 9 years of age, he performed for the first time and 2 years later, he began composing. His music is performed and interpreted by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Thomanerchoir. Sir Peter Ustinov steps from this background to take us to some authentic places : to Leipzig where Mendelssohn lived and died, to the former Gewanduas where he resided for a long time as director of music, to Weimar and "Goethe's Gartenhaus", and to Berlin, his birthplace. Sir Peter Ustinov narrates in his incomparable way the remarkable and varied but short life of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Sir Peter Ustinov's Mendelssohn (I) on medici.tv.

Sir Peter Ustinov's Mendelssohn (II) on medici.tv.