Mendelssohn’s prodigious musical talents were evident from the first, and his teenage compositions outshine even Mozart's. At this stage, moreover, he created some of his finest music such as the Octet for strings and the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. His travels took him throughout Europe, to Britain and Italy for example, until from 1835 he worked as conductor at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He remained devoted to his talented sister Fanny, and her sudden death in May 1847 may have contributed to his own decline. He died that November, aged just 38.

Although Mendelssohn was born into a wealthy German Jewish family and had everything he could possibly want, he was brought up in a particularly disciplined environment. His grandfather was the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and his father a rich banker who moved the family from Hamburg to Berlin when the boy Felix was three years old. Here the young prodigy flourished as pianist, artist, linguist and naturalist, rising at 5 a.m. every morning to start the day’s lessons alongside his older sister Fanny. Felix was devoted to her, and the pair remained very close throughout their lives.

At the age of nine Felix made his public debut as a concert pianist, and the following year one of his compositions was performed by the Singakademie in Berlin. His prodigious talent was not exploited by his family, however, and his appearances in public were few and far between. By the time the he entered his teens it was clear that very little could obstruct his desire to follow a career in music, and for his fourteenth birthday he received his own private ensemble. This enabled him to try out his compositions under the direction of his tutor Carl Zelter, through whom he met and made a great impression upon the legendary writer Goethe.

The compositions of Mendelssohn’s early years are dominated by a series of skilfully written "string symphonies". Yet even with these seemingly limitless resources it is still extraordinary that he could have written the sublime Octet by the age of sixteen, and follow it the next year with the quicksilver Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its mastery of structure and imaginative orchestration. The translation of Shakespeare was one of the most significant literary developments in Germany during the first half of the century, capturing the imaginations of writers, artists and composers alike: "We were really brought up on A Midsummer Night's Dream," wrote Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny.

Mendelssohn was also a performing musician of distinction, and not simply as a virtuoso pianist. For example, in 1829 with the Berlin Singakademie he conducted two of the most influential concerts of the century, featuring performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, a work unheard since Bach’s lifetime. The impact was such that it sparked off a considerable and lasting interest in the music of the hitherto neglected Baroque master.

Mendelssohn's extreme sensitivity meant that he was easily upset when someone, even a longstanding friend, took an opposing view to his own. His friendships often vanished overnight after these disagreements. Even his sister Fanny noted in her diary that he was very nervous, easily offended and angry, and that it made dealing with him quite difficult. He was arguably the first modern conductor, having a say in the repertoire to be performed, conducting all types of work, choosing soloists and liaising with the Mayor of Leipzig to try to get better pay for his musicians. He was sometimes angered at having to offer soloist jobs to musicians popular with the public whom he did not rate. Some things don't change.

D.K. During the early 1830s Mendelssohn toured widely and introduced his music in Italy, France and England. He charmed people with his good looks, wit and intelligence, and he listened with interest, though with some misgivings, to the music of Berlioz, Liszt and Chopin, all of whom he met. England occupied a particular place in his affections, and it seems that the young Queen Victoria was smitten by the dashing young composer. Indeed many of his finest compositions were written for this country, for example the oratorio Elijah, the concert overture Fingal’s Cave, the Scottish Symphony (dedicated to the Queen), and the first of the six volumes of the delightful piano miniatures entitled Songs Without Words.

Back in Germany, as conductor at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the leading figure at the Conservatoire, Mendelssohn continued to be creatively prolific and completed a succession of masterworks, such as the oratorio St Paul, the three string quartets Opus 44, and the overture Ruy Blas. His interest in chamber music and in the smaller vocal forms of sacred music was also richly productive, and these fields contain some wonderful yet relatively neglected music that can find the composer at the height of his powers. For Mendelssohn was a man of deep religious conviction who converted to Christianity from his Jewish origins. His preference for composing motets, chorale cantatas and the larger oratorios surely developed out of his belief that ‘music should be noble and morally uplifting’.

This decade of the 1840s brought forth Elijah and, in 1844, the justly celebrated Violin Concerto in E minor written for Ferdinand David, the orchestral leader in Leipzig. However, ill health, overwork and then the shock of his beloved sister’s death probably contributed to Mendelssohn’s own death, from a heart attack, on 4th November 1847 at the age of only 38.

With his unique blend of classical poise and romantic feeling, Mendelssohn was one of the great composers of the 19th century.

© Terry Barfoot/BBC.