Eduard Devrient (1801-1877) came from an acting family: his two brothers were also actors, and his uncle Ludwig Devrient was considered the most significant German-speaking stage performer of his time and was a close friend of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Eduard Devrient had known Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) since he was 13 years old and became famous overnight when the trained bass singer performed Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" at the Berlin Sing-Akademie together with Mendelssohn-Bartholdy on March 11, 1829. His memories of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy come alive particularly through the numerous letters from the composer that are integrated into the text. This is a reprint of the second edition published in Leipzig in 1872.