Family life

Cécile Mendelssohn Bartholdy possessed all the accomplishments which were required of the wife of a highly-respected artiste. Although rather shy by nature, she was nonetheless eloquent and well-read, had an appreciation for art and music, knew her way around the social circuit, was able to run a home renowned for its hospitality, had the necessary dose of good humour, and did not question social conventions or her role as a wife and mother. On the contrary: not for her the tragic fate of an Effi Briest, for she had entered into a love match where she was surrounded by art and music, interesting people and friends, and was able to pursue her own artistic inclinations without constraints.

Yet Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a very busy man whose work often took him away from home. Soon after their wedding, Cécile was keen to accompany him to Britain, and learned English for that very purpose. But her first pregnancy put paid to this plan, as was often to be the case in the years that followed, for Cécile bore five children during the ten years of her marriage. Nor did she wish to leave her children in a stranger’s care for any length of time. It was not until the summer of 1842 that a suitable opportunity presented itself and she was able to accompany her husband first to Britain and then on an extended journey through Switzerland. On most other occasions, Felix had to travel to Britain and various music festivals without her.

To Cécile’s immense pleasure, her sister moved to Leipzig after her own marriage, and she was in close contact with other relatives in Saxony too.

She also enjoyed visiting her husband’s family in Berlin, her mother in Frankfurt, and her beloved Bad Soden. The Mendelssohns not only sought to alleviate the suffering of their sickly youngest son Felix at the spa town; Bad Soden also served as a retreat for the often overworked composer which allowed him to enjoy the idyll of a bourgeois family life.