ABSTRACT
Public observations of Felix Mendelssohn's passing took place in several European countries, and even across the Atlantic in the United States. Commemorative concerts were presented in numerous German cities, including Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. On 12 January 1848, a 'Mendelssohn Night' took place at Exeter Hall, organized by Hullah. The Beethoven Quartett Society gave a Mendelssohn concert on 5 June comprising his three Op. 44 string quartets, and his works were frequently heard in concerts presented by Ella, Lucas, Dando and others. Meanwhile, efforts to memorialize Mendelssohn took on an imposing physical form in 1860, when a statue of composer, eight feet tall and weighing one-and-a-half tons, was cast by the sculptor C. Bacon. Mendelssohn died just as England's musical culture was entering a period of significant growth, and the 1850s and 1860s were vibrant if unsettled years for instrumental concert music.
