Last year a paragraph was inserted in the newspapers, requesting
any one who possessed letters from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to
send them to Professor Droysen, or to myself, with the view of
completing a selection from his correspondence which we
contemplated publishing. Our design in this was twofold.
In the first place, we wished to offer to the public in
Mendelssohn's own words, which always so truly and faithfully
mirrored his thoughts, the most genuine impression of his
character; and secondly, we thought that the biographical elements
contained in such a correspondence, might be of infinite use in the
compilation of a memoir--which we reserve for a future day--and
serve as its precursor and basis.
There are difficulties, however, opposed to the immediate
fulfilment of our original purpose to its full extent; and at
present it is impossible to decide when these can be removed.
I have, therefore, formed the resolution to carry out my plan in
the meantime within more circumscribed limits, but which leaves me
unfettered.
On Mendelssohn's return from his first visit to England, in the
year 1829, he came to Berlin for a short time to attend a family
festivity, and thence in 1830 proceeded to Italy, returning through
Switzerland to France, and in the beginning of 1832 visiting
England for the second time.
This period, which to a certain degree forms a separate section of
his life, and which, through the vivid impressions it made,
assuredly exercised an important influence on Mendelssohn's
development (we may mention that he was only one-and-twenty at the
commencement of his journey), supplies us with a number of letters
addressed to his parents, and to his sisters, Fanny and Rebecca, as
well as to myself. I have also added some communications of the
same date, to various friends, partly entire and partly in
extracts, and now present them to the public in their original
integrity.
Those who were personally acquainted with Mendelssohn, and who wish
once more to realize him as he was when in life,--and those also
who would be glad to acquire a more definite idea of his
individuality than can be found in the general inferences deduced
from his musical creations,--will not lay down these letters
dissatisfied. Along with this particular source of interest they
offer a more universal one, as they prove how admirably
Mendelssohn's superior nature, and perceptions of Art, mutually
pervaded and regulated each other.
With this view, it appeared to me a duty to give to the public
these letters, stored up in the peaceful home for which they were
originally destined and exclusively intended, and thus to make them
accessible to a more extended circle. They begin by a visit to
Goethe. May his words then accompany these Letters, as an
appropriate convoy:--
"Be sure the works of mighty men,
The good, the faithful, the sublime,
Stored in the gallery of Time,
Repose awhile--to wake again."[1]