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In the spring of 1830 Mendelssohn started on his continental tour. His
first station was Weimar, where, at the urgent request of Goethe, he
spent a memorable fortnight in the house of that “Pole-star of poets,”
as Mendelssohn had described him, when, as a boy of thirteen, he first
was privileged to be a guest at his house.
Leaving Weimar, he proceeded to Munich and Vienna, and from there to
Italy. On his return he visited Switzerland and several of the German
musical centres; and after a short stay in Paris, he once more crossed
the Channel, arriving in London in April, 1832. His visit was marked by
the most kindly intercourse with his old friends. Speaking of these, he
says in a letter to his parents:[4]--
* * * * *
“I wish I could describe how happy I am to find myself here again, where
everything is so congenial to my taste, and how glad to meet with so
much kindness from my old friends. With Klingemann, Rosen, and Moscheles
I feel as much at home as if we had never been separated. They are the
centre to which I am constantly gravitating. We meet every day, and I
feel thoroughly happy to be with such good and earnest people and such
true friends, in whose company I can show myself just as I am, without
reserve. The kindness of Moscheles and his wife to me is really
touching, and I value it in proportion to my warm and ever-growing
attachment to them both.”
* * * * *
During this stay in London he played for the first time his G minor
Concerto at the Philharmonic. In Moscheles’s concert he conducted his
Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which he had carefully revised,
and the Overture to “The Isles of Fingal,” recently written at Rome.
Moscheles’s birthday was on the 30th of May, and Mendelssohn’s
congratulations on the occasion of his anniversary took the shape of a
drawing humorously illustrating some of his friend’s works. “The
writing,” he says, “is in Emily’s hand; the poem, by Klingemann; the
design invented, and the ink-blots executed, by Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy.” In his design we find “the young Berliner” (meaning himself)
practising a piece that Moscheles had dedicated to him. Further on,
“Respect” for the drums, that for once in the way are in tune; the “Blue
Devils,” that stand for melancholy; “The Last Rose of Summer,” on which
Moscheles had written Variations; the “Demons” refer to one of
Moscheles’s “Studies.” Next, Moscheles is conducting his Symphony. The
Scotchman with his bagpipes illustrates the “Anticipations of Scotland,”
a piece dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. The stirring theme of the
“Alexander Variations” is supposed to bring about the Fall of Paris; and
finally, the popular song “Au Clair de la Lune” comes in as being the
theme of some brilliant Variations. In the centre of the paper we
read:--
[Illustration: 3. Mendelssohn’s Congratulations to Moscheles on the
Latter’s Birthday. (See page 20.)]
“Hail to the man who upward strives
Ever in happy unconcern;
Whom neither blame nor praise contrives
From his own nature’s path to turn.”[5]
Mendelssohn spent two months in London, during which time many notes
passed between him and the Moscheleses relating to their respective
plans and engagements. We translate one of these as showing his
attachment to his old master, Professor Zelter, and the simple feeling
that prompted him to turn to his friends in his bereavement.
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