7 Geistliche Gesänge und Psalmen

Preface

F. M. Bartholdy was born in Hamburgh on February, 3rd in 1809. The family a little later fled from the French occupation to Berlin. In 1816 his father Abraham Mendelssohn, son of the great philosopher and friend of Lessing, Moses Mendelssohn, had his children baptized reformed- protestant.

A few years later even the parents changed their Jewish religion to Christian belief. This step was taken after careful consideration. Antisemitism was nothing unusual even at that time. So the historian Friedrich Rühs wrote in one of his essays: If we don´t succed in movig Jews to being christened, then only one thing is left to be done to wipe them out in an act of violence.

Father Abraham followed the advice of his son- in- law Jacob Salomon, who had assumed the name Bartholdy after his christening. I advise you to assume the name Mendelsssohn Bartholdy to differ from the numerous Menselssohns.

So the children were educated in Christian belief. Felix took this seriously. A lot of works, spiritual songs, psalms, “ The Reformation- Sinfonie” and the oratorios “Paulus” and “Elias” bear witness for it. A third oratorio “Jesus Christ” became an only plan, because of Mendelssohns’ early death. The here present works were simplified in the frame of possibilities, with all the respect for the great German composer, so that the task of access to the glorious music of Mr. Mendelssohn can be made easier for many young pupils.