Eduard Magnus · Public domain

A prodigy who wrote the Octet at sixteen and the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream at seventeen, either of which would secure a reputation. He also did more than anyone to rescue Johann Sebastian Bach from obscurity, staging the St Matthew Passion in 1829 after a century of neglect and effectively founding the modern early-music revival. Grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and baptised as a child; the Nazis banned his music and destroyed his statue in Leipzig regardless.