BBC Documentaries

Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me (2009x141)

: 26, 2009

Felix Mendelssohn was a passionate Christian. He was also born a Jew. This film, marking the 200th anniversary of his birth, tells the extraordinary story of what happened, generations later, both to Mendelssohn's family and to his music, when the Nazis remembered the Jewish roots of Germany's most celebrated composer. It also examines how the influences of both Judaism and Christianity affected Mendelssohn's music and was made by documentary-maker Sheila Hayman, Mendelssohn's great-great-great-great niece.