Mendelssohn - The Caged Spirit by Mary Allerton-North.
Although much has been written about Felix Mendelssohn over the past 150 years, biographers have tended to regurgitate earlier narratives,
which have incorporated myths, misrepresentations and even falsehoods about his family. Thus, the word 'unique' can be truthfully
applied to Mendelssohn - The Caged Spirit.
Not only is this the first Mendelssohn biography to be written by a woman psycotherapist (rather than from the usual male musicologist's stand-point), but Mary Allerton-North does not take statements hitherto 'set in stone' at face value. She challenges such inaccuracies for the first time, analysing what actually happened in the Mendelssohn chronicle, with regard to both his musical and his personal life.
Mendelssohn was in many ways complex and in many ways very simple. He was complex because of his family background: he was born into a wealthy German Jewish family at the beginning of the 19th century and by the age of seven was playing the piano, painting, writing poetry, speaking several languages and starring as a precocious athlete. He helped revive Bach's music in Europe, he knew Goethe and although the poet was seventy and Mendelssohn only twelve when they met, they became friends.
Not only is this the first Mendelssohn biography to be written by a woman psycotherapist (rather than from the usual male musicologist's stand-point), but Mary Allerton-North does not take statements hitherto 'set in stone' at face value. She challenges such inaccuracies for the first time, analysing what actually happened in the Mendelssohn chronicle, with regard to both his musical and his personal life.
Mendelssohn was in many ways complex and in many ways very simple. He was complex because of his family background: he was born into a wealthy German Jewish family at the beginning of the 19th century and by the age of seven was playing the piano, painting, writing poetry, speaking several languages and starring as a precocious athlete. He helped revive Bach's music in Europe, he knew Goethe and although the poet was seventy and Mendelssohn only twelve when they met, they became friends.
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Forefront Publishing Ltd.
As her pen-name suggests, Mary Allerton-North is a Yorkshire lass - her surname is the town of Northallerton way round; she has also
written fiction, under the pseudonym Victoria Thirsk. Currently she lives in Reading with her psychoanalyst husband, to whom she has
been married for over 40 years.
The author's interests encompass the 19th and early 20th centuries and all aspects of culture, and her hobbies include crossword puzzles, board games and quizzes (she has appeared on BBC TV's Mastermind). A member of Georgian Group and the National Trust, Mary has also founded a voluntary group to help her local community, and the music appreciation society 'Friends of Mendelssohn', which, together with this biography, she hopes will allow his music and reputation to thrive.
A psychoanalyst by profession, she has written this book - her first non-fiction work - as if Felix Mendelssohn and his family were her clients. With the research exhilarating her so much that she uses the phrase "life begins at 60", Mary aims to be responsible for further biographies. She also refuses to allow her limited eyesight to prevent her leading a full and active life - inspired by her present biographical subject, Felix Mendelssohn.
The author's interests encompass the 19th and early 20th centuries and all aspects of culture, and her hobbies include crossword puzzles, board games and quizzes (she has appeared on BBC TV's Mastermind). A member of Georgian Group and the National Trust, Mary has also founded a voluntary group to help her local community, and the music appreciation society 'Friends of Mendelssohn', which, together with this biography, she hopes will allow his music and reputation to thrive.
A psychoanalyst by profession, she has written this book - her first non-fiction work - as if Felix Mendelssohn and his family were her clients. With the research exhilarating her so much that she uses the phrase "life begins at 60", Mary aims to be responsible for further biographies. She also refuses to allow her limited eyesight to prevent her leading a full and active life - inspired by her present biographical subject, Felix Mendelssohn.
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