Little gem about Mendelssohn on Woman’s Hour just now.
“Mendelssohn and the Nazis.”
Also, look out for Sheila Hayman’s film on June 19th on BBC4, and her radio 3 programme which isn’t on Sunday May 9th as advertised. (There is no Sunday May 9th) It’s on tomorrow, Saturday 9th. May. 9 – 9.45pm
“Felix Mendelssohn was the grandson of great Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Baptised at the age of seven, Felix became a devout Christian – with Christian influences at the heart of much of his music. But he also tried, throughout his life, to reconcile his Christian faith with his Jewish roots.
Just two years after his death, Richard Wagner stated that Felix, as a Jew, was a second-rate composer. And, in 1934, the Nazi government declared Felix, and the entire family, Jewish and therefore Mendelssohn’s music was banned in Germany [………….]Mendelssohn’s Elijah was performed at the Oranienburgestrasse synagogue in 1937, with the doors and windows sealed – to keep the music inside. “
Please, BBC, give us features like this on the BBC main channels, not shoved into the obscurity of BBC4 along with all the WW2 history programmes, if for no other reason than to counterbalance incessant programmes about the lives of Saudi women and Thoughts for the Day about UK Moslems that we are treated to day-in-and-day-out on the main radio and BBC telly channels.