Most Penetrating Mind in the Mendelssohn Family

A selection, in English translation, of 100 illuminating and entertaining letters by a woman often relegated to the background of her famous family but worthy of attention in her own right.Rebecka Dirichlet (née Mendelssohn, 1811-58) is often referred to in passing as the younger sister of composers Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel, granddaughter of the great Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and wife of the mathematician Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet. She is usually described as a cog in the wheels of other lives rather than as a person in her own right. Yet according to a contemporary, the composer Johanna Kinkel, Rebecka "had a reputation as the most penetrating mind in the whole Mendelssohn family." She was a prolific letter writer, and her quick wit and interest in the world around her come to life in her correspondence.This collection aims to let her speak for herself through translations of 100 letters, many of them newly available, from the last few years of her life, when she moved from Berlin to the university town of Göttingen and her correspondence was particularly abundant. The introduction to the book also serves as a short biography of Rebecka, including her radical political leanings and her role as intermediary in a daring prison escape in the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions. Extensive annotations and 30 images, many in color, complete the volume.