 Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany , where he also revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach , and in his travels throughout Europe . He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer , conductor and soloist , and his ten visits there – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career . His essentially conservative musical tastes , however , set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt , Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz . The Leipzig Conservatoire ( now the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig ) , which he founded , became a bastion of this anti @-@ radical outlook . 
