Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
A nephew of the great Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and son of a prosperous businessman, Felix's youth was filled with exposure to literary and musical masters who were friends of the family. Two weeks with Goethe in Weimar, visits to Rossini and Meyerbeer in Paris, and eventually performances in London and Scotland (where he got the inspiration for the Hebrides overture) made Mendelssohn-Bartholdy an international figure before settling in Leipzig to establish Germany’s first musical conservatory.