Mendelssohn Scandal? Speculation on a love affair, rejection, and suicide

I never knew Mendelssohn personally, of course, but this came as a surprise to me. Found originally on Opera Chic, this article from The Independent discusses the possible suspicions circulating around Mendelssohn's death.

From the article:

Did Felix Mendelssohn's passion for the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind lead to his early death? If reports of a document buried in the bowels of the Royal Academy of Music are to be believed, a potentially devastating new light is waiting to be shed on the composer's life, his death and his music, on the eve of his bicentenary, which is sparking worldwide celebrations in 2009.

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The cellist Steven Isserlis is related to Mendelssohn: they share an ancestor in R Moses Isserlis of 16th-century Krakow, the grandfather of Moses Mendelssohn. The cellist alerted me to the existence of the mysterious papers, adding: "If he had committed suicide, the family would have covered it up." For him, it's obvious that his eminent ancestor was not all sweetness and light: "You can hear it in the music. His F minor String Quartet, for example, is extremely tormented."

And now, a little of the F minor quartet, by the Brentano String Quartet: