F. G. Edwards

“ Dear Schubring,—Many, many thanks for your letter, which I received the day before yesterday, and for the parcel, which came to-day. You again render me an essential service, and I feel most grateful to you. How can you ask whether I wish you to proceed in the same way? When all is so well put together, I have almost nothing to do but to write music for the words. ”

“ The alto had not enough voice to fill the hall ... but her rendering was musical and intelligent, which to me makes it far more easy to put up with than want of voice. Nothing is so unpleasant to my taste as such cold, heartless coquetry in music. It is so unmusical in itself, and yet it is often made the basis of singing and playing—making music, in fact."
To Jenny Lind, Mendelssohn wrote:—
"The performance of my 'Elijah' was the best performance that I ever heard of any one of my compositions. ”

“ Monday morning was set apart for a full rehearsal of "Elijah" in the Town Hall, which is thus described in the Birmingham Journal:—
Mendelssohn was received by the performers with great enthusiasm, renewed again and again, as his lithe and petit (81) figure bent in acknowledgment of these spontaneous and gratifying tributes to his genius, personal affability, and kindness.... His manner, both in the orchestra and in private, is exceedingly pleasing. His smile is winning, and occasionally, when addressing a friendly correction to the band or choir, full of comic expression. ”

“ The 'Give me thy son' expressed all that religious reliance, that confidence in power from above which already assured the prayer's fulfilment; and Staudigl being Elijah, Mendelssohn's every intention was carried out. Then the contrast between the 'Baal music' and Elijah's and the Israelites' prayers and adoration is finely and truly maintained. To select beauties where the whole is so perfect seems nearly impossible. ”

“ 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]
Writing to Moscheles, Mendelssohn says: "I absolutely require a first-rate high baritone. Can such an one be found?" ”

“ If this should weary you, you have only yourself to blame; for why did you allow me to come to you with the score under my arm, and play to you those parts that were half completed, and why did you sing so much of it to me at sight? You really ought to have felt it a duty to travel with me to (87) Birmingham; for one ought not to make people's mouths water and make them feel dissatisfied with their condition where one cannot help them; and it was just the solo soprano part I found there in a most helpless and lamentable state. ”

“ There are, it is true, two casual references to the oratorio. To Moscheles, Mendelssohn wrote: "A new oratorio, too, I have begun; but how it is to end, and what is to come in the middle, Heaven only knows." And to Klingemann: "I have thought anew seriously of 'Elijah.' Perhaps I shall attack him now." But it was not until the summer of 1845, when he received the invitation from Birmingham (see the next chapter) , that Mendelssohn, to use his own words, "again began to plough up the soil." ”

“ But for this disappointment, a public having little leisure for songs without music, might yet, in the pauses of their enthusiasm, after hearing the 'Elijah,' have let fall some crumbs of approbation on a poem in which the immortal part of Mendelssohn had found a channel for his farewell inspirations. ”

“ Let me tell you that Mendelssohn's noble oratorio of 'Elijah' was even more than I had expected, and I had very great expectations. To see him conducting was worth anything. He seemed (91) inspired, and might well be forgiven for something of self-reverence, though he looked all humility; and when he came down from his chair when it was all over, he seemed all unstrung as if he could no more. The interest that invests that man is quite inexpressible, and indeed I never felt, as I have done throughout this week's Festival, the greatness of a truly great composer ”

“ He talks German with great volubility and animation, and speaks English remarkably well. He possesses a remarkable power over the performers, moulding them to his will, and though rigidly strict in exacting the nicest precision, he does it in a manner irresistible—actually laughing them into perfection. Some of his remarks are exceedingly humorous. In the Overture to the "Midsummer Night's Dream" [played at the Festival] , the gradations of sound were not well preserved; a rattle of his bâton on the music-stand brings the band to a dead halt. "Gentlemen," says Mendelssohn, "that won't do. ”

“ I have been asked to say a few words as introduction to this volume, and I do so with pleasure.
To the mass of music-loving people of this country, however, I believe that Mendelssohn requires no introduction. It has been the fashion in some quarters to speak of him slightingly, nay injuriously; but this will pass, and he needs no defence—certainly not when "Elijah" is in question. In England the oratorio has taken its place, if not on a level with "The Messiah," very near it; and what more does any work of musical art require? ”

“ The concluding bars of the original are here appended, with the two versions of the words, to show the force of Mendelssohn's suggested alteration:—
[Listen]
The words of this Recit., as originally written by Bartholomew, were: "Ye people, rend your hearts, and not your garments, for your transgressions; even as Elijah hath sealed the heavens through the word of God.
"I therefore say to ye, Forsake your idols, return to God; for He is ever enduring in goodness; repenting of the evil. He turneth our sorrow to gladness, and He comforteth us in affliction." ”

“ But you well know how sluggishly my poetical vein flows; how, here and there, with great effort I manage to gather a few crumbs together, but then I get no farther. Unless I am in the pulpit—where the Lord usually helps me joyfully to honour Him by my preaching—the creative power fails me utterly."
For nearly seven years the subject of "Elijah" drops out of the Mendelssohn-Schubring correspondence, except two unimportant references. In a letter to Mendelssohn, dated January 17, 1840, Schubring says: "How about 'Elijah'? Have you quite put him aside?" ”

“ Then let an Introductory-movement be played, expressive, descriptive of the misery of famine—for the chorus (I always thought) comes so very quickly and suddenly after the curse, that there seems to elapse no time to produce its results."
It seems evident that Mendelssohn was indebted to Bartholomew for the suggestion of an Overture to "Elijah." That Mendelssohn accomplished what he calls his "difficult task" we know full well, and Bartholomew must have felt quite satisfied when the composer wrote to him and said, "I have written an Overture, and a long one." ”

“ I think it is that Mendelssohn's whole nature is profoundly educated; that his adaptation of the music to the meaning is not of that broad unmistakable kind which even an uneducated ear can comprehend, but is of that refined and far-reaching nature which carries along with it in fullest sympathy, mind, heart, and soul, be they cultivated ever so highly. If I could send you my scheme [word-book] of 'Elijah' with my own remarks, you would at once see what I mean ”

“ Upon the words "Hear the prayer and petition of Thy servant, O Lord," Schubring remarks: "Here it would be well to have a reference to God's own promise that He will answer prayer. (Daniel ix., 18; Psalm xxv., 6; Isaiah liv., 10, 7) . Then the chorale—'Out of the depths I cry to Thee' (Aus tiefer Noth) , verses 1 and 4, increasing in intensity. Pray do not reject this suggestion. There are plenty of praying people who heartily endorse the petition of Elijah."
Schubring's continued interest in the oratorio is shown in the following letter:—
[Schubring to Mendelssohn.] ”

“ 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 ”

“ The only piece which is not now in your hands is No. 37, a song of Elijah ['For the mountains shall depart'] . And this (and perhaps one song to be introduced in the (70) first part) I shall either send or bring myself, for they will require only few words, and it will be plenty of time to copy the vocal parts, and the instrumental ones I bring over with me. I hope to be in London on the 17th, and beg you will let us have a grand meeting on the 18th, to settle all the questions and the copies of the solo parts.
"Always yours very truly,
"Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy." ”

“ It has been shown that Mendelssohn had to write against time in order to complete his oratorio for the Birmingham Festival; and after—if not before, or during—the first performance he discovered numerous instances in which the work could be greatly improved. He told Mr. Bartholomew that he should make many alterations, and he did. In a letter to Klingemann, dated December 6, 1846, Mendelssohn says:—
"I have again begun to work with all my might at my 'Elijah,' and hope to amend the greater part of what I thought deficient at the first performance. ”

“ What I feared and wrote to you about, has really come to pass; and the thing is becoming too objective—an interesting, even thrilling picture, but far from edifying the heart of the listener. All the curses, the scenes of the sacrifice and the rain, Jezebel, etc., in all this there is nothing which now-a-days would come from the heart, and therefore nothing which would go to the heart. ”

“ Mr. W.H. Cummings, then a chorister of the Temple Church, sang alto in the chorus at the first London performance. He and some other boys were asked to help, as the alto part lay rather high (124) for men's voices. [65] Master Cummings, as he was then, sat in the front row of the altos, and his enthusiastic singing attracted the notice of Mendelssohn, who asked the Temple chorister his name, which he wrote on one of his (Mendelssohn's) visiting cards, and gave to the youthful singer. ”

“ I have not as yet got a final chorus; what would you advise it to be? Pray study the whole carefully, and write in the margin a great many beautiful arias, reflections, pithy sentences, choruses, and all sorts of things, and let me have them as soon as possible....
"Speaking is a very different thing from writing. The few minutes I lately passed with you and yours were more enlivening and cheering than ever so many letters.—Ever your
"Felix"
Early in January, 1846, Mendelssohn and Schubring met, and the plan of the oratorio was doubtless fully discussed between them. ”

“ The first performance of the revised version of "Elijah"—the form in which we now know the oratorio—took place, under the auspices of the Sacred Harmonic Society, at Exeter Hall, London, on Friday, April 16, 1847, conducted by the composer. Miss Birch, Miss Dolby (afterwards Madame Sainton-Dolby) , and Mr. Henry Phillips replaced Madame Caradori-Allan, Miss Hawes, and Herr Staudigl, who had "created" their respective parts at Birmingham. "Lockey would be quite sufficient for all the tenor solos," wrote Mendelssohn, and so he proved to be. ”

“ Elijah must help to transform the old into the new covenant—that gives him his great historical importance. Let Handel in his Old Testament oratorios move within this narrow circle—personages like Saul, etc., have no further meaning; but with Elijah, with you, and in our day, it must be otherwise. Therefore, I think the (26) sense of the ending must remain essentially as I have suggested—the words themselves are immaterial.
"Your enquiry whether Elisha may sing soprano is comical. Such a question should not be put by one who has set Christ's words for a chorus. ”

“ There would have been no doubt of it, had I been able to continue my work quietly at Frankfort, as I began it. But now there are so many businesses here, at Dresden, and at Berlin, which took up all my leisure time during the last months, that I have not been able to go on with it. If the businesses continue as they have begun (which, however, I hope they will not) , I shall not be able to finish my oratorio in time. If they do not continue, I shall finish it in time. But during this uncertainty I am not able to make an engagement as to the first performance of this work. ”

“ This last sentence must have so touched Mendelssohn's feelings that he somewhat relented from his former decision. He wrote to Bartholomew: "About the song 'O rest in the Lord,' we will (71) settle everything when we meet." Bartholomew strongly urged him to retain the now familiar air; but even at the eleventh hour (at the rehearsal in London) Mendelssohn still wished to delete it from the oratorio. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Soon after his return to Dessau, Schubring returned Mendelssohn's MS. of the "sketch," to which he had added a number of comments and suggestions. This "sketch" and its annotations are too long to be inserted here, but an extract or two may be quoted.
[Schubring to Mendelssohn.] [17]
"In oratorios, chorales have produced the most powerful effect on me when they came after other pieces of music [Schubring evidently knew Bach's "Passion"] . Dignity, simplicity, nobility, are then most perceptible in these circumstances. ”

“ I am curious to know how you are getting on with 'Elijah.' I must confess that I am getting more and more interested in it, and greatly look forward to it. Be sure and keep well at it. If some things in the text do not please you, they will come right in their proper time."
In May (1846) , only three months before the oratorio was performed at Birmingham, Mendelssohn again sought the aid of Schubring. ”

“ And many thanks again! And you copy yourself the solo parts! Whatever your reason may be, I feel what an obligation you confer upon me.
"Now I go on with my remarks about those pieces of the second part which you sent me the translation of, viz.: Nos. 33, 34, and 35. By-the-bye: No. 33 will be altered and another Recit. (for a Soprano) comes in its stead with the next parcel; but the words are the same, and your translation will go quite as well to the new Recit.
"In No. 34 I again wish to alter the notes in order to keep the English scriptural version. ”

“ Six months after the strains of "Elijah" had died away in Exeter (133) Hall, the genius-brain that had conceived that noble work was for ever calmed in death.
(Mendelssohn died at Leipzig, November 4, 1847, in his thirty-ninth year.)
A memorable performance of "Elijah" was given by Jenny Lind in Exeter Hall, December 15, 1848, in aid of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Fund. This performance, which Mr. Otto Goldschmidt happily terms the "corner-stone of the Fund," was a triumphant success. ”