Mendelssohn: Sonata No. 2

Edith Hanselman, music director and organist of Strathroy United Church, performs Felix Mendelssohn's Sonata No. 2 as the organ prelude to begin the August 3, 2008 Sunday service. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 -- November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist and conductor of the early Romantic period. He was born to a notable Jewish family which later converted to Lutheranism; he was a grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His work includes symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano and chamber music. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality is now being recognized and re-evaluated. He is now among the more popular composers of the Romantic era. Mendelssohn played the organ and composed for it from the age of 11 to his death. His primary organ works are the Three Preludes and Fugues, Op. 37 (1837), and the Six Sonatas, Op. 65 (1845).