Write a critical commentary on Mendelssohn's Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 12

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Mendelssohn Quartet No 1 in Eb major, op.12

Born in Hamburg, February 3rd 1809, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (known to the western world as Felix Mendelssohn) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Recognised early on in life as being a musical prodigy, he took up piano lessons with his mother at the age of 6, giving his first public recital just 3 years later as an accompanist for a horn duo. Whilst demonstrating highly developed maturity towards creating music as a performer, Mendelssohn became a prolific composer from an early age, usually having his works performed by a private orchestra to an elite group of his wealthy parent's associates. He wrote 12 string symphonies between the ages of 12 and 14, a full orchestra symphony at aged 15 and his string octet which was written aged just 16, the latter of which began to demonstrate his true genius as a musician.

Mendelssohn's style of composition was very different to that of his contemporaries such as Liszt, Berlioz and Schumann. Often labelled as the "Classical Romantic", as a composer, Mendelssohn's style was more comparable to the works of Beethoven than his