The History of Mendelssohn's Oratorio "Elijah" Part 5

"FELIX."

[Footnote 29: From "Letters of Mendelssohn to I. and C. Moscheles," by Felix Moscheles (Trubner), p. 274.]

[Footnote 30: At a Philharmonic rehearsal in 1844.]

Two months before the performance Mendelssohn reports that "an immense piece of 'Elijah' is not yet copied"; and he writes to Moscheles to the effect that as the touch of the Birmingham organ was so very heavy the last time he played, he would not play one of his Sonatas at the Festival until he had first tried the organ; also that when "St. Paul"

was given in 1837, it was followed by a selection from Handel's Oratorios. "I much disapproved of this," he says, "and trust it is not to be the case this time." He further adds that "Elijah" will take two hours in performance; and that if there must be something added to occupy the orthodox three hours, it should be a short complete work: "but, however this may be," he says, "don't let us have a ragout afterwards."

Meanwhile the Birmingham Committee were completing their arrangements.

The fee paid to Mendelssohn for his attendance at the Festival was 200 guineas. Madame Caradori-Allan (the soprano) received a similar amount. Other fees were:--Staudigl (the original _Elijah_), 150 guineas; John Braham (then sixty-eight years old), for one morning performance ("The Messiah"), 50; Dr. Gauntlett, as solo organist and organist in "Elijah," 30. Cooke and w.i.l.l.y, violinists, (leaders), 40 and 20 respectively; Dando, violinist, 11; thirty-eight chorus singers from London, 6 each, instead of 7, as at the previous Festival, the difference being a free railway ticket.

The Committee had some financial difficulty with the "Italian Party,"

which seemed to be an indispensable and expensive feature of these Festivals. Mario, when treating for himself, doubled his former terms!

Mr. Beale, the agent of the "Italian Party," asked for Grisi, 380 guineas; Mario, 320; Lablache, 75; and Benedict, 50; making a total of 825 guineas for the three singers and their accompanist. This amount alarmed the Committee, who resolved: "That these exorbitant terms be rejected, and that, the services of Benedict not being required, an offer of 700 be made for the other three." The fee of 100 paid to Moscheles as Conductor-in-chief of the Festival, and that of 210 to Mendelssohn, cannot be considered exorbitant, when compared with the amounts paid to the solo vocalists.

The choral rehearsals were conducted by Mr. James Stimpson, the chorus-master of the Festival. It was not until after the middle of June, only two months before the Festival, that Mr. Stimpson received the first instalment of the chorus parts. Although these were printed (all the rest of the oratorio was sung and played from MS. copies), the deciphering of them was no easy matter, owing to the many alterations--black, red, and blue ink being freely used to indicate the alterations and re-alterations in the parts. Mr. John Bragg, who sang tenor in the chorus in 1846 and at several Festivals since, relates the following incident in connection with the first rehearsal of "Thanks be to G.o.d." Mr. Bragg says: "At the pa.s.sage beginning 'But the Lord,' which was an entirely new one to choralists, Mr. Stimpson rapped his desk and asked for the separate voice parts one after another. He then compared them with his own MS. copy of the score, and, being evidently puzzled, said 'Well, gentlemen, the voice parts are right, and we must sing it so.' And _so it was sung_," adds the veteran Mr. Bragg, "then and ever after; and one of the greatest gems in the work shone out for the first time. Great was the enthusiasm of the chorus when they had completed the pa.s.sage and realised the full effect of this masterly modulation."

Mr. Stimpson had a most arduous task in preparing the choruses in the limited time at his disposal. As late as August 3, twenty-three days before the performance, the arrival of the first two choruses of Part II. was reported, and the last chorus was not received till nine days before the Festival! But the Birmingham singers were on their mettle.

They enjoyed rehearsing the work, and they worthily maintained those splendid choral traditions which have so eminently distinguished the Birmingham Musical Festival.

CHAPTER III.

THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

The music of "Elijah" was composed to German words; an English version was therefore necessary. Mendelssohn had no hesitation in a.s.signing the task of making the English translation to Mr. Bartholomew--"the translator _par excellence_," as he called him--who is so well known as the translator or adaptor of Mendelssohn's "Athalie," "Antigone,"

"Oedipus," "Lauda Sion," "Walpurgis Night," the _Finale_ to "Loreley," "Christus," and many of his songs and part-songs.

Bartholomew also supplied the words of "Hear my Prayer," "which," he says, "its dear and lamented author composed for my paraphrastic version of the 55th Psalm."

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM BARTHOLOMEW

(1793-1867)

_The English Translator of Mendelssohn's "Elijah."_

_From the original Painting, now in the possession of Mrs. Harper._]

William Bartholomew (1793-1867) was "a man of many accomplishments--chemist, violin player, and excellent flower painter." In 1841 he submitted to Mendelssohn the libretto of a fairy opera, ent.i.tled "Christmas Night's Dream"; and in this way an acquaintance commenced which developed into a close friendship between the two men--a friendship severed only by death.

Here is Mendelssohn's first letter to Bartholomew on the subject of "Elijah."

[MENDELSSOHN TO BARTHOLOMEW.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _May_ 11, 1846.[31]

"My dear Sir,--Many thanks for your kind letter of the 4th, to which I hasten to reply, and to tell you that the oratorio for the Birmingham Festival is _not_ the 'Athalie'

(nor the 'Oedipus,' of course), but a much greater, and (to me) more important work than both together; that it is not quite yet finished, but that I write continually to finish it in time; and that I intend sending over the first part (the longest of the two it will have) in the course of the next ten or twelve days. I asked Mr. Moore from Birmingham to have it translated by you, and I have no doubt he will communicate with you about it as soon as he gets my letter, which I wrote four or five days ago; and I beg you will be good enough, if you can undertake it, to try to find some leisure time towards the end of this month, that the Choral parts with English words may be as soon as possible in the hands of the Chorus singers. And pray give it your best English words, for till now I feel so much more interest in this work, than for my others--and I only wish it may last so with me.

"Always very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

[Footnote 31: The original autograph of this letter is now in the Library of the Royal College of Music. The "important work" referred to in the letter is, of course, the oratorio of "Elijah."]

The music of "Elijah" came to Bartholomew from Mendelssohn in instalments. The English translation was the subject of a long and elaborate correspondence between the composer and his translator in London. Both were unsparing in the labour they bestowed upon the translation. The following letters show that Mendelssohn went through the English version bar by bar, note by note, syllable by syllable, with an attention to detail which might be termed microscopic. These letters, written in Mendelssohn's own English, and the majority of which are now made public for the first time, cannot fail to be of interest.[32]

[Footnote 32: With two exceptions, the letters from Mendelssohn to Bartholomew quoted in this "History" are now in my possession.]

A letter from Bartholomew to Mendelssohn may, however, first be quoted, to show the spirit in which the English translator discharged his congenial task.[33]

[Footnote 33: I am greatly indebted to Frau Geheimrath Wach, of Leipzig (Mendelssohn's younger daughter), and her daughter, for their kindness in copying the long correspondence on "Elijah" from Bartholomew to Mendelssohn. These letters are still carefully treasured in the "27 large green volumes" in which Mendelssohn "preserved all the letters he received, and stuck them in with his own hands."]

[BARTHOLOMEW TO MENDELSSOHN.]

"2, WALCOT PLACE,

"HACKNEY, LONDON, _June_ 23, 1846.

"My dear Sir,--I have at last, after toiling day and night, got through the first portion of your n.o.ble oratorio. I wish I could render words more worthy of such music. My endeavour has been to keep them as _scriptural_ as possible; and in order that you may be able to judge how far I have succeeded, do me the favour to refer to the verses notified in an English version of the Bible. When the second part, or the parts of that, as they are completed, are sent, I hope we shall have the words in the score written in letters which are readable to us. I know not how so bad a scribe as he who penned the libretto could have been found; words, nay even _sentences_ were omitted, and words _changed_: _leben_ was written for _beten_, and there were no references to where the verses might be seen in 'The Book.' All these caused me much perplexity, trouble, and, what is worse than all, _loss of time_. These, too, enhanced by my journeys to Hobart Place, and the necessity of copying by my _own hand all_ the vocal portion of the score for the engravers, and those parts which you will receive through the medium of Mr.

Buxton for your perusal and decision, have rendered my toil, although a labour of love, incessant. The choral portions will this day be in the hands of the engravers; and I trust you will send by every packet each of the pieces yet forthcoming--one at a time--never mind how short, for the time is short--and I want all the time to enable me to do it as well as I can. And the choralists want all the time to rehea.r.s.e it as often as they can, for the more often it is rehea.r.s.ed the better.

"No. 6 wants the time; and I hope you will have time to write an overture, or introduction, unless you expressly design there shall be none. I understand they (the Birmingham Directors) have engaged Staudigl, I hope with the intention of giving him the Prophet's part, although it is reported here that Phillips is to sing it. Much will depend on who sings it [the oratorio] so far as the soloists are concerned; but the choruses! they will be the main feature, and the glory of their composer. The Baal Priests' choruses are wrought to a climax truly _sublime_. Go on, my dear Sir, go on! until you soar with your 'Elijah' on the returning fire to the height from which he called it down!

"Your grateful and obliged

"W. BARTHOLOMEW."

[MENDELSSOHN TO BARTHOLOMEW.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _July_ 3, 1846.[34]

"My dear Sir,--Many, many thanks for your kind letter and for your translation of the first part of Elijah. I can but write in great haste, else I would try to say more, and to thank you better for all your kindness. But I will do so in person, and meanwhile I merely say--I thank you most heartily, most sincerely, and I hasten to answer your questions.

"Those words in the choruses which you or I may now or hereafter object to, might, I hope, still be altered _in pencil or ink_ in the parts, if already printed; for if an improvement can be made, it must never be omitted because the printing should be finished. A little more trouble will be amply repaid by a little improvement! And as for the Solo Parts, they _must not be printed at all_ for the Festival, but only written out (copied), and can only be printed together with the pianoforte arrangement, and _after_ the performance. For these accordingly we have time till then, to alter and improve. Pray let Mr. Buxton [Ewer and Co., the English publishers] read all this!

"No. 1. I wish to keep this if possible as in the English Bible version; therefore I propose[35]:--

[Music: there shall not be dew nor rain these years, not dew nor rain &c.]

"No. 5, at the end, I propose to say 'and in our affliction He comforteth us,' and to slur from D to E flat, because I prefer to have the word af_flic_tion on the G flat.[36]