Sigma Alpha Iota

Winter 2019 24 PAN PIPES A World of Music By Jayne I. Hanlin A scending and descending the original 1845 staircase, one can literally walk in the footsteps of Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Where? At his last residence, now the Mendelssohn-Haus, located at Goldschmidtstraße 12, in Leipzig, Germany. First opened in 1997 on the 150th anniversary of Mendelssohn's death, this museum was renovated in 2014 and reopened on Mendelssohn's 205th birthday. In the inviting foyer, one can purchase admission tickets, CDs, books, gis, and treats. Be sure to sign the guestbook! Redesigned displays actively engage visitors and invite them to do more than just read wall signs (some bi-lingual): e.g. pull out cabinet drawers to access objects and trace a pen-like scanner on numbers to activate the English audioguide and hear more detailed descriptions than those posted only in German. In addition, two rooms on the ground floor are unique. e first is the Effectorium (https://vimeo.com/86918178). Visitors can grab a baton to conduct some of Mendelssohn's masterpieces, including the fourth movement of Symphony No. 5 ("Reformation"), the fourth movement of Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish"), and the Concert Overture from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Opus 21. Each "maestro" on the podium is in control of the performance and can adjust the volume and tempo of the piece, the instrumentation heard, and the hue and intensity of the room's colored lighting—such as green, purple, red, or yellow. In a second room, pushing a button stops Paternoster (revolving long open shelves with items from Mendelssohn's life and work) to access information about any specific artifact in the glass vitrine. In the library, visitors can use iPads to find out more about Mendelssohn. For youngsters in the city, the Children's Museum offers workshops in the former coach house. In 1809, the child prodigy Felix Mendelssohn was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany. Seven years later in Berlin, he was baptized, and Jakob Ludwig was added before his first name and Bartholdy (without a hyphen before it) was added aer his surname. In those days, Jews did not have full rights of citizenship. Consequently, his father thought a Protestant conversion would improve his son's future and help make his musical career possible. Indeed, musical success came swily to young Felix. He composed his beloved String Octet in E-Flat Major, not his first work, when he was only 16. He was a favorite conductor and pianist throughout Europe, and he lived a comfortable middle class life. Beginning in 1845 until his death a little over two years later, Felix, his wife Cécile, and their five children lived in the new flat (about 300 square meters) on the first floor of the museum. e original wooden floors along with the windows and doors have been restored. Colorful, simple geometric lines and designs on the walls and ceilings were typical of the more public rooms within their residence. Based on an 1847 watercolor by Mendelssohn's godson Felix Moscheles (1833-1917), the study where Mendelssohn composed has been restored to the original design. Furnishings include two mahogany-veneer desks (one for writing and another high one for composing), a chair, handmade linen-and-wool striped carpet, busts of Goethe and Bach, a piano, and a bookcase full of the composer's music library. From a young age, Felix took drawing lessons and never lost interest in sketching and In the Footsteps of Felix Mendelssohn Winter 2019 24 PAN PIPES

• Cover