The Mendelssohn Scholarship (German: Mendelssohn-Stipendium) refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to continue their development.
Shortly after Mendelssohn's death in 1847, a group of his friends and admirers formed a committee in London to establish a scholarship to enable musicians to study at the Leipzig Conservatoire, which Mendelssohn had founded in 1843. Their fundraising included a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah in 1848, featuring Jenny Lind. The link between London and Leipzig fell through, resulting in two Mendelssohn Scholarships.[1][2]
In Germany, the Mendelssohn Scholarship was established in the 1870s as two awards of 1500 Marks, one for composition and one for performance, for any student of a music school in Germany, and was funded by the Prussian state as part of an arrangement under which the Mendelssohn family donated the composer's manuscripts to the state.[3] The first recipient was the composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, who used it to travel to Italy in 1879.
Funded by the Jewish Mendelssohn family, the award was discontinued by the Nazis in 1934. It was revived by the Ministry of Culture of the former East Germany in 1963, in the form of two annual prizes for composition and for performance. It is now awarded by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
1882 – Marie Soldat (violin),[5] Martin Gebhardt (organ),[5] Elsa Harriers (voice),[5] Marie Harzer (voice),[5] Karl Prill (violin),[5] Arnold Mendelssohn (composition),[5] Carl Schneider (composition)[8]
1883 – Alex Adam,[5] Albert Gorter (composition),[5] Marie Harzer (voice),[5] Hedwig Meyer (piano),[5] Martha Schwieder (piano),[5] Ernst Seyffardt (composition),[5] Georg Stoltzenberg (composition),[5] Elise Tannenberg (piano),[5] Gabriele Wietrowetz (violin),[5] Margarethe Witt (violin)[5]
1884 – Carl Grothe (composition),[5] Anna Haasters (piano),[5] Solma Krause (piano),[5] Max Puchat (composition),[5] Carl Schneider (composition)[5]
1885 – Gabriele Wietrowetz, Ida Beckmann (violin),[5] Marie Mette (voice),[5] Fanny Richter (piano),[5] Georg Stoltzenberg (composition),[5] Margarete Will (piano)[5]
1886 – Charles Gregorowitsch (violin; also 1887, 1888),[5] Hermann Kindler (cello),[5] Geraldine Morgan (violin; also 1887),[5] Bernhard Pfannstiel (organ; also 1887, 1888),[5] Olga von Radecke (piano)[5]
1887 – Waldemar von Baußnern,[6] Heinrich van Eyken, Peter Fassbänder, Felix Odenwald[5]
1888 – Fanny Richter (piano), Percy Sherwood (piano; also 1889), Eduard Behm (also 1890, 1891), Mathieu Neumann, Ewald Strasser, Lucy Campbell (cello; also 1890)[5]
1890 – Bram Eldering,[6] Carl Markees (violin), Hermann von Roner (violin), Elisabeth Rouge (piano), August Schmidt (piano) E. van Dooren (also 1892), Martin Grabert, Friedrich Koch, Max Oppitz (clarinet), Carl Piening (cello)[5]
1891 – Rudolf Lentz (violin; also 1892, 1893), Mina Rode (violin; also 1894), Betty Schwabe (violin), Felice Kirchdorffer (piano)[5]
1892 – Helene Jordan (voice), Rosa Schindler (violin), Lina Mayer (piano)[5]
1893 – Carl Thiel,[6] Leo Schrattenholz, Louis Saar, Nellie Kühler (piano), Amelia Heineberg (piano), Olga von Lerdahely (violin), Kati Macdonald (piano), Lizzie Reynolds (piano)[5]
1894 – Heinrich Bendler (piano), Dietrich Schäfer (piano), Toni Tholfus (piano), May C. Taylor (composition)[5]
Mendelssohn Scholarship in the United Kingdom[edit]
Winners of the UK Mendelssohn Scholarship
Sullivan
Faning
d'Albert
Arnold
The funds raised at the 1848 concert were invested and allowed to accumulate until 1856, when Arthur Sullivan was elected as the first scholar. Since then it has been awarded from time to time, administered by the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, which is linked to the Royal Academy of Music. The foundation was created by a trust deed in 1871. Its trustees include the composers Anthony Payne and Justin Connolly, and the principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood; and its charitable objects are "For the education of musical students of both sexes in pursuance of the intentions of the founders".[18]
^ abEuropa Publications, ed. (2003). International Who's Who in Classical Music 2003. International Who's Who in Classical Music. Vol. 19. Routledge. ISBN978-1-85743-174-2.
