Mendelssohn and his Cécile

Mendelssohn was a popular idol. On his death the mournful news was
placarded all over Leipsic, where he had made his home, and there was
an immense funeral procession. When the church service was over, a
woman in deep mourning was led to the bier, and sinking down beside it,
remained long in prayer. It was Cécile taking her last farewell of
Felix.

Mendelssohn was born under a lucky star. The pathways of most musical
geniuses are covered with thorns; his was strewn with roses. The
Mendelssohn family, originally Jewish, was well-to-do and highly
refined, and Felix's grandfather was a philosophical writer of some
note. This inspired the oft-quoted _mot_ of the musician's father:
"Once I was known as the son of the famous Mendelssohn; now I am known
as the father of the famous Mendelssohn."

Felix was an amazingly clever, fascinating boy. Coincident with his
musical gifts he had a talent for art. Goethe was captivated by him,
and the many distinguished friends of the Mendelssohn house in Berlin
adored him. This house was a gathering place of artists, musicians,
literary men and scientists; his genius had the stimulus found in the
"atmosphere" of such a household. There was one member of that
household between whom and himself the most tender relations
existed,--his sister Fanny, who became the wife of Hensel, the artist.
The musical tastes of Felix and Fanny were alike: she was the
confidante of his ambitions, and thus was created between them an
artistic sympathy, which from childhood greatly strengthened the family
bond. Growing up amid love and devotion, to say nothing of the
admiration accorded his genius in the home circle, with tastes,