Biographical Sketches

From "The Worlds Best Music" © 1908

Massenet, Jules Emile Frederic
Born in Montaud, France, May 12, 1842.
He was educated at the Paris conservatoire, where he won a number of prizes for piano and fugue. Later his teacher was Ambroise Thomas. In 1863 he won the Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata "David Rizzio". After the Franco-German War Massenet rose to the first rank of French composers by the production of "Don Cesar de Bazan" (1872). Among his other operas are: "Les Erinnyes" (1873); "Le Roi de Lahore" (1877); "Herodiade" (1881); "Monon Lescaut" (1884); "Le Cid" (1885); "Esclarmonde" (1889); "Le Mage" (1891); "Werther" (1892); "Thais" (1894); "La Navarraise" (1894); "Sapho" (1897); "Cendrillon" (1899); "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame" (1902). He has also written orchestral suites, overtures, cantatas, and songs.

Mendelssohn-Barthodly, Felix
Born in Hamburg, Germany, February 3, 1809.
He was a grandson of the Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, who brought up his children in the Protestant faith, and Felix was a Lutheran. His father, Abraham Mendelssohn, a man of wealth, gave him the advantages of a thorough training. His mother instructed him on the pianoforte, and later his teachers were Ludwig Berger, Zelter, Hennings, Mme. Bigot, and Mescheles. In his ninth years he played the pianoforte publicly in Berlin, and the following year in Paris. He began to compose before he had reached the age of twelve. In 1821 he visited Geothe, who highly commended him. With his father, in 1825, he made a second visit to Paris to consult the musicians there, especially Cherubini, who confirmed his choice of a musical career.

In 1826 Mendelssohn produced the overture to the "Midsummer Night's Dream", and the octet for strings (Opus 20). Two years later he appears to have been composing "Songs Without Words". In 1833 he became municipal musical director in Dusseldorf, and in 1835 he was made conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Here he completed his oratorio "St. Paul", which was first performed at Dusseldorf, under his own direction, in 1836. He made many tours, and in 1841 Frederick William IV. invited him to Berlin, where he composed his music to the "Antigone" and other dramas of Sophocles and to Racine's "Athale". Returning to Leipzig in 1842, he there brought out the music to the Midsummer Night's Dream". The founding of the Leipzig Conservatory was mainly due to his exertions.

Mendelssohn made several visits to England. At Birmingham, in 1846, his oratorio "Elijah" was performed for the first time, and was received with the greatest enthusiasm. Through this work, perhaps more than by reason of all else that he achieved, his fame still survives. The following year he returned to Leipzig, where, exhausted by his many labors and journeys, he was prostrated beyond recovery by the sudden death of his sister Fanny, to whom he was bound by the tenderest ties of affection.
He died in Leipzig, November 4, 1847.

Merkel, Gustav
Born in Oberoderwitz, Saxony, November 12, 1827.
He studied music under Julius Otto and Johann Schneider, and was also a favorite pupil of Reissiger and Schumann. In 1858 he was appointed organist of the Waisenkirche, Dresden; in 1860 he went to the Kreuzkirche' and in 1864 he became court organist. From 1867 to 1873 he was director of the Dresden Singakademie. Merkel both as organist and composer of organ music, ranks very high among musicians. His compositions include preludes, fugues, fantasias, sonatas, etc. Besides organ music, he published pieces for the violin and pianoforte, and a few songs, of which the "Songs of Spring" are the best known.
He died in Dresden, October 30, 1885.

Meyerbeer, Giacomo
Born in Berlin, Germany, September 5, 1791.
His father was a wealthy Jewish banker, and both he and the boy's mother encouraged his musical instinct, which early developed into promising talent. He studied the pianoforte under Lauska, and at nine made his first public appearance. His early life was spent under the most brilliant masters, who instructed him in composition and organ playing. Among his teachers were Clementi, Bernhard Anselm, Weber, and the Abbe Volger, whose academy at Darmstadt he entered, and there formed a life long friendship with Karl Maria von Weber.

Meyerbeer's early works were unsuccessful, but he received encouragement from the recognition given to a series of operas in the Italian style. These he wrote after visiting Italy and studying the effect of Rossini's works, which he strove to emulate. The last of the series, "Il Crociato in Egitto" (1824), won him a European reputation. It was not, however, until several years later that he produced a work displaying his genius. This was shown in his French opera "Robert le Diable", staged at the Grand Opera, Paris, in 1831. Its popularity was unbounded; yet Meyerbeer did not again appear before the public for five years. He then produced "Les Huguenots" (1836), which was perhaps a still greater success. In 1842 he became Royal Music Director in Berlin.

Another period of retirement was followed by one of Meyerbeer's greatest works, "Le Prophete" (1849). IN 1865, after his death, "L'Africaine" was first produced. He had worked on it at different times for more than thirty years, and considered it his best composition. Besides his operas, he wrote an oratorio, many songs, a "Te Deum", cantatas, and other works; and whatever may be saidof his limitations or demerits, his name stands among those of the world's great musicians.
He died in Paris, May 2, 1864.

Meyer-Helmund, Erik
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 13, 1861.
He received his early instruction from his father, and was later a pupil of Kiel and Stockhausen. His best known works are his operas "Die beiden Klingsberg" and "Der Liebeskampf". He has also written a ballet, "Rubezahl", a one-act burlesque entitled "Tischka", concerted music, numerous pianoforte pieces, and songs.