 Although the image was cultivated , especially after his death in the detailed family memoirs by his nephew Sebastian Hensel , of a man always equable , happy and placid in temperament , this was misleading . The nickname " discontented Polish count " was given to Mendelssohn because of his aloofness , and he referred to the epithet in his letters . Mendelssohn was frequently given to alarming fits of temper which occasionally led to collapse . On one occasion in the 1830s , when his wishes had been crossed , " his excitement was increased so fearfully ... that when the family was assembled ... he began to talk incoherently , and in English , to the great terror of them all . The stern voice of his father at last checked the wild torrent of words ; they took him to bed , and a profound sleep of twelve hours restored him to his normal state " . Such fits may be related to his early death . 
