MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY 



3732 



MENELAUS 



Zelter," arose in the audience and compared 

 him to Haydn, Mozart and Bach. Men- 

 delssohn's father then sent him on a three-year 

 tour of Europe to gain ideas from other musi- 

 cians. He went first to London, where he 

 played his Symphony in C, written when he 

 was but fifteen, and so pleased the audience- 

 that many people leaped upon the stage to 

 congratulate him. In June of that same year, 

 1829, he played in London the overture of his 

 Midsummer Night's Dream, written before his 

 seventeenth birthday, and again the audience 

 showed extraordinary enthusiasm. In later 

 years he gradually added musical settings for 

 the various scenes in 'the famous Shakespearean 

 drama until the entire play was described in 

 music. It is in this composition that the fa- 

 mous Wedding March is to be found. 



When he was twenty-four years old he was 

 appointed director of public music for Dussel- 

 dorf, Germany, but two years later removed to 

 Leipzig to direct the public concerts. He was 

 greatly admired by the music-loving citizens; 

 the university of the city conferred upon him 

 the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy; 

 he suggested and organized the famous Leipzig 

 Conservatory, the greatest music school in the 

 world. Life indeed seemed full of profitable 

 and pleasant work for him. In 1835, however, 

 he suffered a severe loss in the death of his 

 father, and his sorrow caused him to compose 

 Saint Paul, one of the greatest of oratorios. 

 Mendelssohn, though still very young, was be- 

 ginning to show signs of premature old age; 

 overwork had made him irritable, and the un- 

 appreciative attitude of his home city, Berlin, 

 increased his natural sensitiveness. But there 

 seemed to be no decrease in either the quan- 

 tity or quality of his cdmpositions. In 1840 

 he was commissioned by the Leipzig authorities 

 to compose the music for the four hundredth 

 anniversary of the invention of printing, and 

 the result was his marvelous Hymn of Praise, 

 excelled perhaps only by Beethoven's Ninth 

 Symphony. Because of this work he was chosen 

 general superintendent of sacred music through- 

 out the kingdom of Prussia. In 1845 he re- 

 signed all positions to devote his entire time 

 to composing, and near the close of that year 

 finished his most famous work, the oratorio 

 Elijah. It was first presented at Birmingham, 

 England, on May 26, 1846, and gained a recep- 

 tion never equaled in the history of oratorio 

 music. 



In the midst of such triumphs came the death 

 of his beloved sister Fanny, and in his stricken 



condition he wrote the pathetic Violin Quartet 

 in F Minor, probably the most sorrowful com- 

 position in all music. His grief seemed to 

 increase, and in October, 1847, caused a stroke 

 of apoplexy. He lingered until November 4, 

 when his death occurred at Leipzig. Memorial 

 services for the beloved musician were held in 

 practical!}' every large city of both Europe and 

 America. R.D.M. 



Consult Rockstro's Mendelssohn, in Great Musi- 

 cians Series ; Hadden's Life of Mendelssohn. 



MENDICANT, men'dikant, ORDERS, com- 

 munities of religious men who renounce all 

 worldly possessions and accept the vows of 

 poverty, chastity and obedience. Though the 

 term mendicant is associated with begging, it 

 was not the original idea of the founders of 

 the Orders that they should subsist by alms, 

 but by manual labor, and resort to solicitation 

 only when labor became impossible. With the 

 growth of cities and communities, spiritual 

 ministrations increased, self-support by per- 

 sonal work became difficult and the dependence 

 upon contributions of the faithful increased. 

 Subsequently, however, the practice of receiv- 

 ing alms declined or was abolished. These 

 Orders were instituted in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury and have spread steadily throughout the 

 West, where they have responded to the re- 

 ligious, intellectual and artistic needs of society 

 by founding colleges and institutions of learn- 

 ing. The Dominicans, the Franciscans, the 

 Augustinians, the Carmelites and the Servites 

 are the most prominent of this class of Orders. 



MENDOZA, mendo'sah, the most important 

 inland city of Argentina, South America, and 

 capital of the province of the same name, is 

 beautifully situated at an elevation of 2,500 

 feet above sea level, 160 miles east of Valpa- 

 raiso, in a rich agricultural district in the north- 

 ern part of the province. Mendoza is the cen- 

 ter of the grape and wine industry of Argentina, 

 100,000 acres of vines being cultivated in the 

 vicinity. It is also the transfer point between 

 Buenos Aires, 647 miles to the east, and the 

 Pacific coast. Connection with Chile is ob- 

 tained by the Trans- Andean Railway. The 

 city is progressive, having schools, colleges, 

 banks and beautiful public buildings. It was 

 visited by an earthquake in 1861, when 10,000 

 lives were lost. Population, 1915, about 62,000. 



MENELAUS, menela'us, a character in 

 Greek mythology, who was a son of Atreus, 

 brother of Agamemnon and husband of the 

 beautiful Helen of Troy. The happy married 

 life of Menelaus and his wife came to a sudden 



