The History of Mendelssohn's Oratorio "Elijah" Part 4

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

Mendelssohn then set vigorously to work at the music. Miss Dolby, afterwards Madame Sainton-Dolby, made her first appearance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Concerts, for which she had been engaged by Mendelssohn, on October 25, 1845; and she records the progress of the new oratorio in the following anecdote. "We were dining," she says, "at Dr. Hartel's, and were all seated at the table. The guests included Dr. and Madame Schumann; but Mendelssohn, who was also invited, came late. A vacant place had been left for him by my side.

He arrived after the soup had been served, and excused himself by saying he had been very busy with his oratorio; and then turning to me he said, 'I have sketched the ba.s.s part, and now for the contralto.'

'Oh!' I exclaimed, 'do tell me what that will be like, because I am specially interested in that part.' 'Never fear,' he answered, 'it will suit you very well, for it is a true woman's part--half an angel, half a devil.' I did not know whether to take that as a compliment, but we had a good laugh over it."[24]

[Footnote 24: In case the point of Mendelssohn's joke should be missed by anyone, it must be remembered that the contralto singer in "Elijah"

takes the parts of both the Angel and Jezebel, the Queen.]

Shortly afterwards Jenny Lind also made her first appearance at the Gewandhaus; and it may here be mentioned that there is every reason to suppose that Mendelssohn wrote the soprano part of his "Elijah"

expressly for the "Swedish Nightingale." It is stated in the "Memoir"

of Jenny Lind that amongst the beautiful notes of her splendid voice, "the upper F sharp possessed an irresistible charm" for Mendelssohn.

He often spoke of it with admiration, and fully remembered that "wonderful F sharp," when he was writing the soprano part of his "Elijah." "He used it with striking effect, as the initial note of the first phrase in 'Hear ye, Israel,' and in many other pa.s.sages, in which it rings like a trumpet-call throughout the air."[25] This will account for Mendelssohn's having set "Hear ye, Israel," in the keys of B minor and B major--the dominant note of which, and the predominating note of the air, is the said "F sharp."

[Footnote 25: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt." By H. Scott Holland and W.S. Rockstro. London: John Murray (1891). II., p. 243.]

Mendelssohn definitely accepted the invitation of the Birmingham Committee in the following letter, which, however, still left the new oratorio an "open question":--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _December_ 11, 1845.

"My dear Sir,--Many thanks for your very kind letter. I have now made up my mind to come to Birmingham in August; but I wish to conduct only my own music, as in former years, and have nothing to do with the other parts of the programme. I cannot yet give any promise as to my new oratorio; but in a month or two I shall be able to tell you for certain whether, and when, I can send it. If I cannot, I would try to propose something else of my new music. You want something, whether new or old, for the Friday: would the 'Walpurgisnacht' do for it? I conducted it only once in England, at the last Philharmonic, 1844, and they seemed to like it then. Or would the music to the 'Midsummer Night's Dream' be the thing? My Symphony in A minor, about which you questioned me in one of your former letters, lasts about thirty-five to forty minutes.

"And if you can have Jenny Lind for the Festival, by all means have her, for we have now no singer on the Continent who is to be compared to her. But although she has no fixed engagement, neither at Berlin nor elsewhere, I fear it will be difficult to make her come, as they are all mad about her, and force her into more engagements than she can accept. And Pischek would also be the man, I am sure! But he is known already in England; and if you get Jenny Lind, it will be such a novelty at the same time, and will give a new character to the Festival. Now, before all, I hope that these lines may find you in better health, that your indisposition will be forgotten long before they arrive, and that I may meet you again in perfect strength and happiness.

"Yours very truly,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

The Committee at once acted upon Mendelssohn's suggestion that Jenny Lind should be invited to sing; and at their meeting on December 26 resolved--"That Mr. Moore be requested to use his endeavours to engage Jenny Lind, and impress upon Mendelssohn the importance of completing his new oratorio." Moore evidently asked Mendelssohn to be the negotiator between the Committee and Jenny Lind, judging from the following letter:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _January_ 15, 1846.

"My dear Sir,--Yesterday I received your letter of the 7th, and answer it as early as I can. My oratorio is in progress, and becomes every day more developed; but whether I shall be able to finish it in time for your preparations is another question, which I shall not be able to answer positively before _two months_ are elapsed. It will then be the middle of March, more than five months before the period of your Festival, and if I should fail in my efforts of ending my work in time (which I fully hope and trust to do), there will be ample time for you to make it up by something else.

Your question about Jenny Lind is very important to the success of the Festival, as I consider her, without hesitation, as the first singer of the day, and perhaps of many days to come. But I am not able to undertake the negotiation which your chairman would entrust me with, as I know how much she is surrounded with engagements of all sorts, and how little likely it is that I could get anything like a positive answer from her, unless a formal application from the Committee had previously been made to her. It is by no means certain that such an application would be successful, but at any rate I think it the only way, if there is one. When you formally wrote to me about the same subject, I was at Berlin, and spoke to her about it, but then she said she should not go to England, she had declined it already twice, it was quite impossible, etc., etc.; so that I am sure that she will not come to _London_ at least (for I did not make any direct enquiries about Birmingham and the Festival at that time). When you have determined what you will do, and if you have written, or if another (perhaps at Berlin) has negotiated for you, pray let me know of it, and I could then, perhaps, be of some use in removing some difficulties which might still arise, and in persuading her to accept the Festival, which I should be most happy to do. But at present, I am afraid, by beginning to talk or correspond with Jenny Lind about this subject, I would do your cause no good, and I therefore beg to be excused.

"Truly and sincerely yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

Nothing daunted, the Committee at their next meeting (January 30, 1846) instructed Moore to ask Moscheles (who had been appointed Conductor-in-chief of the Festival) to use his influence with Jenny Lind. Although a good deal of pressure seems to have been brought to bear upon her to visit Birmingham for the purpose of singing in the first performance of "Elijah," it was of no avail. The reason of Jenny Lind's inability to come to England at that time may be traced to her fear of Mr. Alfred Bunn, the opera manager. Those who wish to follow the circ.u.mstances of that unpleasant episode in the great singer's career will find the story fully told in the chapter headed "The Bunn Contract," in Messrs. Holland and Rockstro's "Memoir of Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," Vol. I., pp. 228 and 290; also Vol. II., pp. 39 and 198.

Meanwhile, the work of composition made slow progress, and the fate of the oratorio was decidedly precarious. On April 20, four months before the Festival, Mendelssohn wrote to Moscheles suggesting that "Athalie"

should be an alternative to "Elijah." To Hauser, of Vienna, he wrote: "I sit, over both my ears, in my 'Elijah,' and if it only turns out half as good as I often think it will, I shall be glad indeed! The first part will be quite finished within the next few days, and a goodly portion of the second part also. I like nothing more than to spend the whole day in writing the notes down, and I often come so late to dinner that the children come to my room to fetch me, and drag me out by main force."[26]

[Footnote 26: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 402.]

Writing to Moscheles, Mendelssohn says: "I absolutely require a first-rate high baritone. Can such an one be found?" Again: "If, after all, there is no baritone to be got, the whole thing falls to the ground." To Jenny Lind: "Sometimes, in my room, I have jumped up to the ceiling when it seemed to promise so very well. (Indeed, I shall be but too glad if it turns out only half as good as it now appears to me.) But I am getting a little confused, through writing down, during the last few weeks, the immense number of notes that I previously had in my head, and working them now and then upon the paper into a piece, though not quite in the proper order, one after another."[27]

To Devrient: "I am working day and night at my new oratorio to send to England, otherwise it will not be in time." To his sister f.a.n.n.y: "I am more driven than ever, as an immense piece of 'Elijah' is not yet copied, whilst the first part is already in rehearsal in England....

The first thing to-morrow morning I shall shut myself up, and decline to budge till 'Elijah' is finished, which may not be for another three weeks, and that I also swear by my beard."

[Footnote 27: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 392.]

The anxiety of the Birmingham Committee was somewhat relieved by the receipt of the following letter from the composer:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _May_ 8, 1846.

"My dear Sir,--I write these lines to inform you that I intend to send the whole of the first part of my oratorio to Mr. Moscheles in the course of the next fortnight. It is by far the greater part of the two; the choruses from the second part will be in England towards the beginning of July, and the rest of the whole in the middle of that month.

All this, _Deo volente_.

"I wish Mr. Bartholomew, in London, who has translated several other vocal pieces of mine, would undertake also this; and I wish he might take advice of my friend, Mr.

Klingemann, who understands both languages thoroughly, and who understands my music better than both languages.

"The most essential condition for my oratorio is a most excellent barytone singer--a man like Pischek, or Staudigl, or Oberhofer. Will you have such a m...."

[Here the letter is torn away, and concluded in a lady's handwriting, thus:]

"Believe me always yours truly,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

The summer of 1846 was very hot, and Mendelssohn often became exhausted over the close application which he gave to his work. "I have lived the life of a marmot," he writes, but he kept his time. The complete Part I. was despatched from Leipzig on May 23. He was then interrupted in the process of composition for three weeks by having to conduct the Lower Rhine Musical Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle (May 31 to June 2);[28] then a Soiree at Dusseldorf; after that the production of his "Lauda Sion," at Liege, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 11; and finally a great Choral Festival at Cologne--"an enormous 'Sangerfest,'" he writes, of "nearly 2,000 men, which I have also to direct." For this Mendelssohn had composed a Festgesang on Schiller's "An die Kunstler" ("To the Sons of Art"), Op. 68.

[Footnote 28: It was on this occasion that Mendelssohn omitted the two "redundant bars" in the _Scherzo_ of Beethoven's C minor Symphony. See Sir George Grove's forthcoming work on "Beethoven," and the chapter on the C minor Symphony; also the "Dictionary of Music and Musicians,"

Vol. II., 288_a_.]

On his return to Leipzig, Mendelssohn heard that some members of the Philharmonic band, who had been discourteous to him during his previous visit to London, were not to be engaged for the Birmingham Festival. He at once wrote off to Moscheles in the following emphatic terms:--

[MENDELSSOHN TO MOSCHELES.]

"LEIPZIG, _June_ 26, 1846.[29]

"My dear Friend,--The occasion of these lines is a pa.s.sage in Mr. Moore's letter, in which he says: 'Nearly the whole of the Philharmonic band are engaged [for Birmingham]; a few only are left out who made themselves unpleasant when you were there.'[30]

"Now, I strongly object to this restriction; and as I fancy you can exercise your authority in the matter, I address my protest to you, and beg you to communicate it to Mr. Moore.

There is nothing I hate more than the reviving of bygone disputes; it is bad enough that they should have occurred.

This one of the Philharmonic is, as far as I am concerned, dead and buried, and must on no account have any influence on the selection made for the Birmingham Festival. If men are to be rejected because they are incompetent, that is not my business and I have nothing to say in the matter; but if it is because 'they made themselves unpleasant when I was there,' I consider that an injustice, against which I protest. Any further disturbance on the part of these gentlemen, I am sure, is not to be feared. That at least is my belief, shared probably by all concerned. So you will sincerely oblige me by having the selection made exactly as if I were not coming to England. The only consideration that can be shown me is not to take me into consideration at all.

You will do me a favour by putting this very strongly to Mr.

Moore, and requesting him to let the matter drop. If my wishes are to be complied with, the incident must herewith end. Should it be otherwise, I shall write a dozen letters in protest against what I should consider a spirit of vindictiveness. Excuse all this.--Ever yours,