things I still wish to know, and if, when the christening is over, you
do not write me all the details which you omit in this letter, you must
expect a good scolding. You forget that I have myself three children, so
I am doubly interested in such things. You do not even mention the name
the boy is to have, and whether he is fair or dark, or has black or blue
eyes. My wife is as desirous as I am to know all this, and we hope that
after the christening you will write to us every particular. You were
rather displeased with me for being so bad a correspondent. I earnestly
entreat of you never to be displeased with me on that account; I cannot
remedy this; it is a fault which, in spite of the best resolutions on my
part, I constantly fall into, and which I shall never be cured of so
long as I live. There is so much that stands in my way; first, a really
instinctive dislike to pen and paper, except where music is concerned;
then the various scattered branches of a perfect maze of professional
and other avocations, which I am obliged to undertake partly for myself
and partly for others, so that I really sometimes can only carry on life
like a person in a crowd pushing his way, and shoving along with both
his elbows, using his feet too, as well as his fists and teeth, etc.
This is, in fact, my mood many a week; I extort the time for writing
music, otherwise I could not go on from day to day, but I cannot find
leisure to write letters.
We have had recently a bitter heavy loss to bewail,--that of my dear
Mother. I intended to have written in a gay mood all through this
letter, and not by a single word to allude to anything, that by its
melancholy nature might disturb your happiness, but I feel that I must
write this to you, otherwise all that I say would appear mere hypocrisy.
You must therefore take part in my sorrow, for I could not conceal from
you the event that during the last few weeks, has so bowed us down from
grief, and which it will be long before we can recover from. Yet such a
letter as yours is welcome at all times, and in all sorrow, and just as
I know how you will feel towards me on hearing this, so you know how
cordially I sympathize with your joy; this may well be called sincere
attachment! Give your wife a thousand greetings and congratulations from
me. Tell me if she has composed new songs or anything else; what I
should like best would be to receive one from her in a letter; they
always delight me so much, when I hear and play them.--Ever your devoted
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO FANNY HENSEL, BERLIN.
Leipzig, January 13th, 1843.
... We yesterday tried over a new symphony by a Dane of the name of
Gade, and we are to perform it in the course of the ensuing month; it
has given me more pleasure than any work I have seen for a long time. He
has great and superior talents, and I wish you could hear this most
original, most earnest, and sweet-sounding Danish symphony. I am writing
him a few lines to-day, though I know nothing more of him than that he
lives in Copenhagen, and is twenty-six years of age, but I must thank
him for the delight he has caused me; for there can scarcely be a
greater than to hear fine music; admiration increasing at every bar, and
a feeling of congeniality; would that it came less seldom!
TO A. W. GADE, PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, COPENHAGEN.
Leipzig, January 13th, 1842.
Sir,
We yesterday rehearsed for the first time your symphony in C minor, and
though personally a stranger, yet I cannot resist the wish to address
you, in order to say what excessive pleasure you have caused me by your
admirable work, and how truly grateful I am for the great enjoyment you
have conferred on me. It is long since any work has made a more lively
and favourable impression on me, and as my surprise increased at every
bar, and yet every moment I felt more at home, I to-day conceive it to
be absolutely necessary to thank you for all this pleasure, and to say
how highly I esteem your splendid talents, and how eager this symphony
(which is the only thing I know of yours) makes me to become acquainted
with your earlier and future compositions; but as I hear that you are
still so young, it is the thoughts of those to come in which I
particularly rejoice, and your present fine work, causes me to
anticipate these with the brightest hopes. I once more thank you for it
and the enjoyment I yesterday had.
We are to have some more rehearsals of the symphony, and shall probably
perform it in the course of three or four weeks. The parts were so full
of mistakes, that we were obliged to revise them all, and to have many
of them transcribed afresh; next time it will not be played like a new
piece, but as one familiar and dear to the whole orchestra. This was
indeed the case yesterday, and there was only one voice on the subject
among us _musicians_, but it must be played so that _every one_ may hear
it properly. Herr Raymond Härtel told me, there was an idea of your
coming here yourself in the course of the winter. I hope this may be the
case, as I could better and more plainly express my high estimation and
my gratitude to you verbally, than by mere empty written words. But
whether we become acquainted or not, I beg you will always look on me as
one who will never cease to regard your works with love and sympathy,
and who will ever feel the greatest and most cordial delight in meeting
with such an artist as yourself, and such a work of art as your C minor
symphony.--Your devoted
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO CARL KLINGEMANN, LONDON.
Leipzig, January 13th, 1843.
I cannot as yet at all reconcile myself to distraction of thought and
every-day life, as it is called, or to life with men who in fact care
very little about you, and to whom what we can never forget or recover
from, is only a mere _piece of news_. I now feel however more vividly
than ever what a heavenly calling Art is; and for this also I have to
thank my parents; just when all else which ought to interest the mind
appears so repugnant, and empty, and insipid, the smallest real service
to Art lays hold of your inmost thoughts, leading you so far away from
town, and country, and from earth itself, that it is indeed a blessing
sent by God. A few days previous to the 11th, I had undertaken to
transcribe my “Walpurgis Nacht,” which I had long intended to do, and
caused the voice parts of the whole of the voluminous score, to be
written out and copied afresh. Then I was summoned to Berlin, and after
an interval of some weeks, I have now begun to write the instrumental
parts in my little study, which has a pretty view of fields, and
meadows, and a village. I sometimes could not leave the table for hours,
I was so fascinated by such pleasant intercourse with the old familiar
oboes and tenor violins, which live so much longer than we do, and are
such faithful friends. I was too sorrowful, and the wound too recent, to
attempt new compositions; but this mere mechanical pursuit and
employment, was my consolation the whole time that I was alone, when I
had not my wife and children with their beloved faces, who make me
forget even music, and cause me daily to think how grateful I ought to
be to God, for all the benefits he bestows on me.
You have not quite understood my previous letter. You say “I _could not
act otherwise_ in my official position.” It was not _that_, it was my
Mother I alluded to. All the plans and projects have since then been
dragging on slowly; I have my half-salary, and begun the music for the
“Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Œdipus” and others for the King. My
private opinion is still, that he is resolved to allow things to rest as
they are; in the meantime, I have established the Conservatorium here,
the official announcement of which you will read in the newspapers, and
it gives me a great deal to do.
TO MADAME EMMA PREUSSER.
Leipzig, February 4th, 1843.
Dear Lady,
I send “Siebenkäs,” according to your desire. May it cause you half the
pleasure it caused me when I first read it, and very frequently since. I
believe that the period when we first learn to love, and to know such a
glorious work, is among the happiest hours of our lives. As you have
read very little of Jean Paul, were I in your place, I would not concern
myself much about the prologues, but at first entirely discard the
“Blumenstücke,” and begin at once at page 26, and follow the story of
“Siebenkäs” to its close. When you have read this, and perhaps also the
“Flegel Jahre,” and some more of his wonderful works, then no doubt you
will like and prize all he has written,--even the more laboured, the
less happy, or the obsolete,--and then you will no longer wish to miss
the “Blumenstücke,” the prologues, and the “Traum im Traum,” etc. etc.
As soon as you wish for anything new, you will always find me at the
service of you and yours.--Your devoted
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO A. W. GADE, PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, COPENHAGEN.
Leipzig, March 3rd, 1843.
Sir,
Your C minor symphony was performed for the first time yesterday at our
eighteenth subscription concert here, to the lively and unalloyed
delight of the whole public, who broke out into the loudest applause at
the close of each of the four movements. There was great excitement
among the audience after the scherzo, and the shouting and clapping of
hands seemed interminable; after the adagio the very same; after the
last, and after the first,--in short, after all! To see the musicians so
unanimous, the public so enchanted, and the performance so successful,
was to me a source of delight as great as if I had written the work
myself, or indeed I may say greater,--for in my own compositions, the
faults and the less successful portions always seem to me most
prominent, whereas in your work, I felt nothing but pure delight in all
its admirable beauties. By the performance of yesterday evening you have
gained the whole of the Leipzig public, who truly love music, as
permanent friends; none here will ever henceforth speak of you or of
your works but with the most heartfelt esteem, and receive with open
arms all your future compositions, which will be assiduously studied,
and joyfully hailed, by all friends to music in this town.
“Whoever wrote the last half of this scherzo is an admirable genius, and
we have a right to expect the most grand and glorious works from him.”
Such was the universal opinion yesterday evening in our orchestra and in
the whole hall, and we are not fickle here. Thus you have acquired a
large number of friends for life by your work; fulfil then our wishes
and hopes by writing many, many works in the same style, and of the same
beauty, and thus imparting new life to our beloved art; and to effect
this, Heaven has bestowed on you all that He can bestow.
Besides the rehearsal which I formerly wrote to you about, we recently
had two others, and with the exception of some trifling unimportant
mistakes, the symphony was played with a degree of spirit and enthusiasm
which at once showed how highly enchanted the musicians were with it. I
hear that it is to be published by Kistner, so permit me to ask, whether
the heading of the first introduction, 6/4 time, afterwards repeated,
may not give rise to misapprehension? If I am not mistaken it is marked
_moderato sostenuto_. Instead of this _sostenuto_, ought it not rather
to be printed _con moto_, or _con molto di moto_? That heading would, it
seems to me, lead to the right _tempo_, if it were 6/8 time instead of
6/4; but in 6/4 time, it is so very customary to count the separate
crotchets slowly and deliberately, that I think the movement would be
taken too slow, which I found to be the case at the first rehearsal,
until I no longer paid any attention to the notes or the heading, but
adhered to the sense alone. As many musicians cling so closely to such
headings, I was resolved at all events to mention to you my doubts on
this subject.
Allow me to thank you once more for your obliging letter, and the
friendly intention which you inform me of in it;[66] but I thank you
still more for the pleasure which you have caused me by the work itself;
and pray believe that no one will follow your future course with warmer
sympathy, or anticipate your future works with more anxiety and hope
than your
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO I. MOSCHELES, LONDON.
Leipzig, April 30th, 1843.
... Our Music Academy here has made a famous beginning; fresh notices
of students arrive almost daily, and the number of teachers, as well as
of lessons, have been necessarily very much increased.
Two serious maladies, however, are apparent, which I mean vigorously to
resist with might and main so long as I am here: the Direction is
disposed to increase and generalize,--that is, to build houses, to hire
localities of several stories,--whereas, I maintain that for the first
ten years, the two rooms we have, in which simultaneous instruction can
be given, are sufficient. Then all the scholars wish to compose and to
theorize, while it is my belief that practical work, thorough steady
practising, and strict time, a solid knowledge of all solid works, etc.,
etc., are the chief things which can and must be taught. From these, all
other knowledge follows as a thing of course, and anything further is
not the affair of learning, but the gift of God. I need not however, I
am sure, say that notwithstanding this, I am far from wishing to render
Art a mere handicraft.
TO M. SIMROCK, BONN.
Leipzig, June 12th, 1843.
Sir,
Herr Herrmann, some time since, inquired of you once, in my name, about
the printed score of the “Zauberflöte;” but I now apply to yourself to
know whether any copy of it still exists in the original German, or if
any ever did exist? And if neither be the case, I should like to know
whether you are disposed to allow the original correct text to be
substituted in your plates of this opera, and some proofs to be taken?
It appears to me almost a positive duty, that such a work should descend
to posterity in its unvitiated form; _we_ indeed all know perfectly
well, for instance, the aria beginning, with the words “Dies Bildniss
ist bezaubernd schön,” but if in the course of a few years the younger
musicians always see it printed thus, “So reizend hold, so zaub’risch
schön,” they will acquire a false idea of Mozart’s thoughts; and I go so
far as to assert, that even the most undeniably bad passages in such a
text deserve to be retained, as Mozart composed music for them, and they
have thus become household words all through Germany. If improvements
are to be proposed, it is all very well, but in that event they ought to
stand _side by side_ with the original words; in no case must they be
entirely banished, otherwise fidelity towards the great deceased master
is not properly observed. I beg you will say a few words on this point
when you write to Herr Herrmann; and if you resolve to alter your
plates, then I shall be the first, but certainly not the last, of your
customers to thank you for it.--Your obedient
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO G. OTTEN, HAMBURG.
Leipzig, July 7th, 1843.
Sir,
My best thanks for your obliging letter, which contains much that is
really far too kind and flattering about myself and my music. Gladly, in
compliance with your friendly invitation, would I at some future time
come to express my thanks to you personally, and to play to you as you
wish me to do. Since we met in Dessau I have learnt a good deal more,
and have made progress. But you must not compare my playing with my
music; I feel quite embarrassed by such an idea, and I am certainly not
the man to prevent people worshipping the golden calf, as it is called
in the fashion of the day. Moreover, I believe that this mode will soon
pass away, even without opposition. To be sure, a new one is sure to
start up; on this account therefore it seems to me best to pursue one’s
own path steadily, and especially to guard against an evil custom of the
day, which is not included in those you name, but which however does
infinite harm,--squandering and frittering away talents for the sake of
outward show. This is a reproach which I might make to most of our
present artists, and to myself also more than I could wish; I have no
great inclination therefore to extend my travels, but rather to restrict
them far more, in order to strive with greater earnestness for my own
improvement instead of the good opinion of others.
I conclude by thanking you for your friendly letter, and pray remember
kindly your obedient
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
TO PAUL MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
Leipzig, July 21st, 1843.
Dear Brother,
I had almost hoped to be able to answer your letter in person, for I was
very nearly taking a journey to Berlin again. Herr von Massow has sent
me a communication connected with that tedious everlasting affair, which
irritated me so much that it almost made me ill, and I do not feel right
yet. In my first feeling of anger, I wished to go to Berlin to speak to
you and break off the whole affair; but I prefer writing, and so I am
now writing to you. Instead of receiving the assent to the proposals on
which we had agreed in the interview of the 10th,[67] Herr von Massow
sends me a commission to arrange for orchestra and chorus, without
delay, the chorale, “Herr Gott, Dich loben wir,” the longest chorale and
the most tiresome work which I ever attempted; and the day after I had
finished it and sent it off, I receive an official document which I
must sign before the assent of the King can be solicited; when I had
signed it, the others present at that conference would also subscribe
their names. In this deed all the stipulations are correctly stated, but
six or eight additional clauses are written on the margin, not one
syllable of which had ever been named during the conference,
invalidating the whole intention of the above stipulations, and placing
myself and the Institute in the most entire subservience to Herr von
Küstner,--and in short, showing in the clearest light all the
difficulties to which I formerly alluded, and the existence of which
Herr von Massow denied. Among other things, it is said, the appointment
of the orchestra for all church music is to be devolved on the
_theatrical_ music direction; before every concert there must be an
application made to the General _Intendancy_, whether the day, which
according to our agreement was to be settled once for all at the
beginning of the winter, is to continue the same or be altered, etc.;
all things of which _not one syllable_ had been alluded to in the
conference. As I told you, I fretted myself till I was quite ill about
it. Remembering your words, I thought it the most judicious plan to
write direct to the King, and break off the affair. After two days’
consideration, I did not think I was justified in doing so; I therefore
wrote to Herr von Massow, why and wherefore I could not give my
signature, requesting him to inform me whether the King intended to
carry out our former agreement. If he did not feel disposed to do so,
or if he, Herr von Massow, considered it necessary to insert new clauses
in the agreement, I should then consider the affair impracticable, and
must act accordingly. In the other view of the case, he knew that I was
prepared to come; I was also to say how far I had got with “Œdipus.”
I answered that in accordance with Tieck’s wish, I had arranged the
“Midsummer Night’s Dream” with music, to be performed in the new palace;
that I had also, by special commission from the King, written
choruses,[68] and that I had not resumed the choruses of “Œdipus”
since the previous autumn, because another Greek piece had been
appointed to be performed. I said all this in a friendly manner, but I
do assure you that the affair cost me four most angry, disturbed, and
irksome days. If I could only have spoken to you for a single hour! I
should have been glad to know whether you approved of my course, that is
of my letter, or whether you would have preferred a short letter
resigning the appointment. It is really too provoking that in all and
everything the same spirit prevails; in this case too, all might be
smoothed over and set to rights by a few words, and every moment I
expect to hear them spoken, and then there would be a possibility of
something good and new; but they are not spoken, and they are replaced
by a thousand annoyances, and my head at last is so bewildered that I
think I become almost as perverted and unnatural, as the whole affair
is at last likely to turn out. Forgive me for causing you to have your
share of annoyance, but now I have told you all--and enough. I have not
been able to work during these days. To make up for this, I have done
the “Jungfrau” for you in Indian ink; the mountain I think is excellent,
but I have again utterly destroyed the pines in the foreground. I mean
now, too, to resume your sonata.--Your
FELIX.
TO PAUL MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
Leipzig, July 26th, 1843.
Dearest Brother,
I have just received your kind letter, and indeed at the very moment
when I was about to write to you and beg you to give me quarters. Next
Tuesday, the 1st of August, I am obliged to return to Berlin to rehearse
and perform the “Tausendjährige Reich,” and to hear from the King his
views with regard to the composition of the Psalms. He yesterday
summoned me for this purpose, and of course I must go, and of course I
must live with you; but is it also of course that my visit is convenient
to you? This time I shall remain at least eight days; on the sixth is
the celebration of the above-mentioned “Reich.” Give me a line in
answer.
I have a reply to my letter from Von Massow, who writes me the King’s
invitation; he says we are sure to agree, and that some matters of form
are the only things in question; that I shall spare myself the annoyance
and vexation which such a tiresome correspondence must entail, and that
as I am coming at all events for the “Tausendjährige Reich,” I can also
reply personally to the _zehntausendjährige_ affair. Herr von Massow, in
fact, says pretty plainly, “Asking and bidding make the bargain;” that
he wished to see whether I would sign; and this not being the case, the
others would no doubt give way, etc. etc. All this is very confusing,
and I do not at all like it. To be sure, it is true that his head must
also be in a maze, and he appears to take all imaginable trouble about
the affair. I mean to bring you the whole of the everlasting papers for
your inspection; we can read them together when we meet. I hope, on this
occasion, not merely to have a Court dinner with the King, but a
satisfactory discussion on business; probably the easiest mode of
bringing about a result. I wish, if possible, to defer this till after
the celebration of the _tausendjährig_ festival; the chorale, that I
wrote for it, is, I believe, just what the King wishes, at all events it
furnishes an opportunity for a complete understanding.
My anger, which was indeed greater on this occasion than for a long time
past, I shook off in a defile on the way to Naumburg, close to Rippach,
where you drive down to Meissenfels; and a couple of good talks and
walks with Mühlenfels, fairly banished every trace of it. Kösen was a
pretty sight; we met Mlle. F---- and Herr C---- under the hazel bushes
and lovely lime-trees, and from every shrub, instead of glow-worms
glittered the order of the red eagle, of different classes; but it was
really beautiful. And now I am writing music once more instead of
painting fir-trees; therefore I cannot positively promise to finish the
“Jungfrau” before eight days. I have washed out the forest recently, for
the second time. It is a year the day after to-morrow since we set off
to Switzerland.--Your
FELIX.
TO PAUL MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
Leipzig, August 26th, 1843.
Dear Brother,
I yesterday received a letter from Herr von Massow containing the
intelligence that the King had fully sanctioned the affair of the
Wirklich Geheimrath; I wished to write this to you instantly.[69] To-day
I got a second letter, with the information that the King desires to
have three representations in the New Palace in the second half of
September, namely, 1, “Antigone;” 2, “The Midsummer Night’s Dream;” 3,
“Athalia” (“Medea” is to be given between Nos. 1 and 2, and all the four
within fourteen days), and I am invited to Berlin for the purpose. Now I
would rather not write, for I have a frightful quantity of things to do
before then, as not one of the scores is yet fit for the transcriber,
and the overture to “Athalia” still wanting, as well as the
instrumentation of the whole, etc. etc. I have written nevertheless that
I would come, and the music should be finished.--Ever your
FELIX.
TO PAUL MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
Leipzig, September 16th, 1843.
Dear Brother,
Six days ago, Herr von Küstner (after a silence of ten days, in spite of
all my letters and messages) wrote to me, that the whole project of the
representations in the New Palace was postponed till October. So of
course I receive from him a letter to-day, saying that “on Tuesday, the
19th, ‘Antigone’ is to be given.” Luckily I smelt a rat, and shall set
off to Berlin by the first train the day after to-morrow.
I defer all else till we meet. You gave me permission to occupy the only
hotel in Berlin that I like, so I mean to go to you. _Au revoir._--Your
FELIX.
TO THE HOCH EDELRATH OF LEIPZIG.
(THE CORPORATION.)
Leipzig, October 3rd, 1843.