“Papa” Bach, as my first piano teacher used to call him, was a German composer of the Baroque period (1600 to 1750). Considered one of the giants of Western classical music, he was born in Eisenach, Germany, to a family of musicians that included fiddlers, town organists, court musicians and Kapellmeisters.

Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer of the Romantic period. He was born to a wealthy family in Hamburg but grew up in Berlin. His father was a music-loving banker and his grandfather was the famous philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.