Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, and conductor whose music influenced both classical composition and church music. Born in Hamburg into a prominent family, he showed remarkable musical ability from an early age. Mendelssohn composed symphonies, chamber music, and large choral works including the oratorio St Paul and Elijah. One melody from his cantata Festgesang, written in 1840, was later adapted as the hymn tune commonly associated with Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Although the original music was not written specifically for that hymn text, later arrangers paired the melody with Charles Wesley words. Mendelssohn influence on hymnody therefore came through adaptation of his compositions within Protestant hymn traditions.