The story of Mendelssohn's life is in strong contrast to those of the great composers who preceded him. They all but one had sprung from the ranks of the people, and most of them had been obliged to fight their way to success, and to pass through stern ordeals in learning the mastery of their art. He was the first who came of a rich family, and enjoyed the apparent advantages of able instructors to guide his youthful steps, and careful and wise friends and relations to superintend the system of his education; and what is still more exceptional, a constant flow of success from his childhood till his death. To the general world the ease and well-being of his early life, the personal comforts, and the refined society that was always at his command, seem to have placed him in a most favourable position for the development of his genius. But worldly advantages are not without their drawbacks when art is concerned; for the trials the earlier masters had to go through strengthened their independence and force of character, whereas all he gained by his immunity from sordid cares was an accurate knowledge of what kind of art was appreciated by eminently respectable people, an equable, refined, and placid style of expression, and a ready facility in managing the resources of his art.

The original name of the family was Mendel; the name of Mendelssohn, “son of Mendel,” was taken by Moses, the grandfather of the composer, a famous philosopher in his time. His son Abraham became a very prosperous banker, and was settled in Hamburg at the time Felix was born in 1809.