Composer Felix Mendelssohn commemorated with English Heritage plaque
6 February 2013
Dmitry Sitkovetsky unveils Mendelssohn commemoration
The regular London visits of Felix Mendelssohn - composer of
the oratorios Elijah, St Paul and Die erste Walpurgisnacht,
as well as a significant body of organ music - have been commemorated with the
installation of a 'Blue Plaque', at the behest of conservation and historic
buildings organisation English Heritage.
The plaque was officially unveiled on 4 February by
violinist/conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky and is attached to 4 Hobart Place, a
Grade II listed building near Buckingham Palace in the City of Westminster.
The house is the former home of the Hanoverian embassy
secretary, Karl Klingemann. Mendelssohn was at the height of his fame during a
series of visits to Britain, stayed four months in total over five
separate periods.
During his stays in Hobart Place he conducted the
Philharmonic Society on numerous occasions and gave many organ recitals. It was
from this building he left to dine with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which he did
not enjoy, and Charles Dickens, which he very much did. It was back to this
address that he rushed back to give his account of his audience with Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert in 1842.
At his death in 1847 Mendelssohn was widely regarded as
Europe’s greatest composer, with one biographer suggesting he was the first
composer to be internationally mourned. An obituary in The Times asserted
that he 'loved England as heartily as his own home'; memorial concerts were
held across the country and a Mendelssohn scholarship was endowed in London the
following year.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican
Centre, former BBC Proms director and member of the blue plaque panel, said a
key factor in Mendelssohn being widely accepted in the UK was largely down to
its enduring choral tradition. 'It was a major factor in the 19th Century,
which enabled him to have his works done well here, and as we know they then
became accepted into the warp and weft of the English choral tradition in a
very major way; Elijah absolutely stood at the centre of that.'
Mendelssohn loved London and his links to the city were
strong. Writing about the city he said that there was 'no question that that
smoky nest is my preferred city and will remain so. I feel quite emotional when
I think of it.'
A plaque was first mooted over a century ago; the case was
only recently revived at the suggestion of an English Heritage historian who
works on the Blue Plaques scheme. Asked why it had taken over a century for
Mendelssohn to be honoured, Sir Nicholas explained that, 'The people at that
time who owned the building didn't want a blue plaque on it and the file simply
mouldered away until Howard Spencer had a new discussion about it and revived
the idea.'
In the year 2016, English Heritage will celebrate 150 years
of commemorative plaques, in spite of swingeing cuts in its funding. 'Because
there is a huge backlog of nominations for the scheme, there won't be any new
nominations for the next couple of years, but plaques will continue to go up,'
Sir Nicholas added.
Graeme Kay
