Rebecka Mendelssohn

Who was Rebecka Mendelssohn?

Rebecka Henriette Lejeune Dirichlet was a granddaughter of Moses Mendelssohn and the youngest sister of Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Rebecka was born in Hamburg. In 1816 her parents arranged for her to be baptised at which point she took the names Rebecka Henriette Mendelssohn Bartholdy. She became a part of the notable salon of her parents, Abraham Mendelssohn and his wife Lea, having social contacts with the important musicians, artists and scientists in a highly creative period of German intellectual life. In 1829 she sang a small role in the premiere, given at the Mendelssohn house, of Felix's Singspiel Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde. She later wrote:

My older brother and sister stole my reputation as an artist. In any other family I would have been highly regarded as a musician and perhaps been leader of a group. Next to Felix and Fanny, I could not aspire to any recognition.

In 1832 she married the mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, who was introduced to the Mendelssohn family by Alexander von Humboldt. She died in Göttingen.