Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the composer and Music Director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, founded a Conservatory in the city of Leipzig on April 2, 1843. He was sponsored by a high civil servant of the Kingdom of Saxony, the Oberhofgerichtsrat Heinrich Blümner (1765–1839), who provided King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony with 20,000 Thaler.
His creative originality has now been recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.