Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

German composer, 1809-1847

Mendelssohn’s essentially conservative musical tastes set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. The Leipzig Conservatoire (now the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig), which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has now been recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

Source: Wikipedia

Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

deutscher Komponist, Pianist und Organist (1809-1847). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „Ihr“ und eine aus 9 Noten bestehende, achttaktige Notenzeile, bez. „Presto“, an Stelle des Namenszugs. o. O. u. D. [Berlin, nach 18. Oktober 1832]. Kl.-4to. 1 p. Mit papiergedecktem Siegel und Adresse.
$ 15,305 / 14.000 € (81692)

An Julius Rietz mit der Bitte um Auskunft über den Verbleib der ,Ouvertüre aus d dur’ von Johann Sebastian Bach. „Motto: Jakob, wo bist du | (Altes Spiel) Lieber Ritz | Wo ist die Ouvertüre aus d dur von Seb. Bach, die einst in der Philharmonie abgespielt worden ist? Haben Sie sie, so schicken Sie sie mir durch den Ueberbringer mit allen Stimmen, denn sie soll in meinem 2ten Concerte gespielt werden. Haben Sie sie nicht, so bitte ich Sie nicht sie zu schicken, aber mich wissen zu lassen, wo sie ist, wo ich sie finden kann.

In der Philharm. Bibliothek nämlich ist sie nicht vorhanden […] Wann wird Ihre Ouvertüre aus Eh gespielt?“ „Philharmonie“: die von Eduard Rietz 1826 gegründete Philharmonische Gesellschaft, ein Liebhaber-Orchester zur Begleitung der Singakademie. - „Ouvertüre aus Eh“: Ouvertüre für großes Orchester in E-dur, die Rietz am 18.X.1832 in Berlin vollendete. - Im Winter 1832/33 veranstaltete Mendelssohn drei Konzerte in Berlin. - Die Notenzeile (F-G-F-E-F-C-F-As-F) ist noch nicht entschlüsselt..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

deutscher Komponist, Pianist und Organist (1809-1847). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. Leipzig. Folio. 3 pp. Leicht gebräunt. Mit schwarzem Ringsiegel (zerteilt) und Adresse (Poststempel und -vermerke). Leichte Defekte.
$ 15,305 / 14.000 € (81693)

Kurz nach dem Tod seines Vaters, des Berliner Bankiers Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy, an seinen verehrten Freund und Ratgeber, den Kölner Juristen Erich Heinrich Verkenius, eine der einflußreichsten Persönlichkeiten des rheinischen Musiklebenes, der ihn gebeten hatte, ,eine Orgelstimme zu Händels Te Deum’ auszuführen. Als Felix Mendelssohn 1833-1935 in Düsseldorf wirkte, wurde er von Verkenius zu Konzerten aufgefordert und 1835 für die Leitung der Niederrheinischen Musikfeste gewonnen, deren Mitbegründer und Leiter Verkenius war.

Es kam bald zu einer vertrauten Beziehung und bei seinen Kölner Aufenthalten war Mendelssohn auch später noch regelmäßig Hausgast der Familie. „[…] Sie haben es wohl schon erfahren, welchen Unglück mich und die Meinigen getroffen hat […] Sie haben ihn nur wenige Tage gesehen, aber Sie werden es wohl wissen wie das der härteste Schlag war der uns hätte treffen können, und wie schwer es mir wird diesen Schmerz mit Fassung und Ergebenheit, wie ich soll, zu ertragen […] Da ich vor allen Dingen mich fortwährend zu beschäftigen und mit Erfüllung meiner Pflichten nicht inne zu halten suche, so war es mir lieb Ihren Auftrag, eine Orgelstimme zu Händels Te Deum bald ausführen zu können. Sie erfolgt hiebei, u. es würde mich freuen zu hören, daß Sie es damit im Dom haben aufführen lassen. Da ich die Stimmen ohne Weiteres so hingeschrieben habe so wird sich wohl mancher Fehler der berichtigt werden muß noch darin finden […] Es wird wohl nicht leicht sein, die ganz passenden Register zu finden, die den Dom füllen und doch die Stimmen nicht zu sehr bedecken. Ich bin von der Voraussetzung ausgegangen, daß gleich Anfangs in der gedruckten Partitur ein bedeutender Druckfehler steht (wie überhaupt viele) daß nämlich in der Bezeichnung der Instrumente am Anfang statt Hautbois I Violino I, und statt Hautb II Violino II stehen muß, und statt Viol. I & II. e Tomba: Hauptb. I & II e Tomba. Die Art wie die Instrumente gebraucht sind macht mich dessen ganz gewiß […] Wie werden Sie das Stück mit der obligaten Trompete geben? Ein heutiger Trompeter bläst es nie sicher, u. ein andres Instrum. thut es nicht recht; ich habe die Orgel dafür ganz ausgelassen, weil sie mir nicht nöthig schien […] Der Stabat mater von Astorgas lege ich ebenfalls dazu. Ich erfuhr daß es der hiesige Magister Fink, der Redacteur der musikal. Zeitung, besäße […] Bei der Gelegenheit kam ich mit Hrn. Finck auf das Rheinische Musikwesen zu sprechen, u. war erstaunt zu hören, daß er steif u. fest behauptete Ries“ [der Pianist und Komponist Ferdinand R. leitete zwischen 1825 und 1837 mehrfach die Niederrheinischen Musikfeste] „sey in Aachen Musikdirektor seit einem Jahre […] Aber noch viel mehr erstaunte ich, als ich einige Wochen drauf manches von dem, was ich ihm damals erzählte, fast wörtlich in der musikal. Zeitung abgedrukt fand, u. zwar so wörtlich, daß ich geschworen hätte, ich wäre ein Mitarbeiter, wenn ich das Gegentheil nicht gar zu gewiß wüßte […] Mein Oratorium ist der Beendigung nahe und der erste Theil davon soll gegen Ende dieses Monats zu Simrock nach Bonn gehn, wo es erscheinen soll. Wahrscheinlich werde ich im Laufe des Frühjahrs oder Sommers nach dem Rhein, u. auch natürlich nach Cöln kommen, ich fahre dann wieder, wie sonst, an Ihrem Hause vor, frage ob Sie mich aufnehmen könen u. wollen, und wir gehen gedenken fröhlicher vergangner Zeiten […]“ Das Paulus-Oratorium, an dem Mendelssohn von Anfang 1834 bis April 1836 arbeitete, wurde während der oben erwähnten Reise am 22. Mai in Düsseldorf uraufgeführt. - Erwähnt seinen Freund Karl Klingemann..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

deutscher Komponist, Pianist und Organist (1809-1847). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. [Leipzig, Mitte Februar 1836]. Quer-8vo. 1 p. Gefaltet.
$ 10,713 / 9.800 € (81694)

An den Baumeister Limburger von der Leipziger „Liedertafel“: „Ich habe das Repertoir über das Armen-Conzert immer noch nicht feststellen können, weil ich durch Herrn Adv. Schleinitz hörte, Herr Eicke habe sich bereitwillig finden lassen darin zu singen (was allerdings sehr vortheilhaft wäre) aber es fehle noch an der Einwilligung des Herrn Ringelhardt. Da ich nicht zweifle daß er sie geben wird, wenn die Direction selbst ihn darum ersucht, so erlaube ich mir zu fragen, ob Sie […] dies nicht zu übernehmen die,Güten haben wollten? […]“

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

deutscher Komponist, Pianist und Organist (1809-1847). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. Berlin. 4to. 1 p. Mit Siegel „FMB“ und Adresse. Faltenschäden.
$ 10,877 / 9.950 € (81696)

An Robert Franz in Halle, dem er für die Zusendung neuer Gesänge dankt. „[…] Wenn mir auch die Schumannschen sehr gefallen haben, so sind mir diese letzten Gesänge doch bei weitem die liebsten und gehören sogar nach meinem Gefühle größtentheils zum besten was ich von Ihnen kenne. Und daß dies für mich was sagen will, wissen Sie wohl! Das erste und zweite, (vor allem die erste Seite dieses 2ten, u. wieder vor allem der Anfang) dann das dritte und fünfte sind meine Lieblinge, obwohl ich sie alle lieb habe.

Mögen Sie sehr, sehr viele Werke, eben so schön gefühlt, ebenso fein ausgeführt, ebenso eigenthümlich und so reich an Wohlklang diesem folgen lassen; Sie werden allen wahren Kunstfreunden den größten Genuß bereiten, der ,Markt’ wird sich von denen endlich auch ins Schlepptau nehmen lassen müssen, wie er das erste schon so oft, eigentlich immer gethan hat und thun wird. Keiner von allen wird aber über dies Werk, wie über jedes Ihrer künftigen mehr Freude haben und Ihnen dankbarer sein als Ihr hochachtungsvoller ergebener | Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. Im Vorjahr war das erste Liederheft von Franz erschienen, das auch von Schumann und Liszt sehr gewürdigt wurde..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

deutscher Komponist, Pianist und Organist (1809-1847). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. Leipzig. 4to. 3 pp. Doppelblatt mit Adresse.
$ 19,678 / 18.000 € (81721)

Schöner, langer und unveröffentlichter Brief an Adolphe Steinberger, vom Komitée des Niederrheinischen Musikfests, der an die Organisation des berühmten Niederrheinischen Musikfestes erinnert, das Mendelssohn seit 1833 geleitet hatte. „Ihrem geehrten Schreiben vom 21. zu folge, wäre mir mit dem Programm für das nächste Musikfest so ziemlich zu Stande, da ich daraus ersehe, daß das Comité für den Josua entschieden hat. Nur daß Sie von den 2 Symphonien absehen wollen, ist mir nicht lieb, u.

erlaube ich mir darauf noch einmal zurückzukommen. Durch die Symphonie von Mozart aus D Dur ohne Menuett, welche kaum 1/2 Stunde dauert, oder eine von Haydn, die sämtlich nicht länger sind, würde dem Fest ein […] Schmuck verliehen, u. es thäte mir leid, dies aufgeben zu müßen. Der Josua wird nicht länger als 2 starke Stunden dauern; und da er keine Ouvertüre hat, schiene es mir auch deswegen beßer, den ersten wie den 2t. Tag mit einer Symph. anzufangen, u. dazu eine von Ries od. eine der obigen zu wählen, in welcher Ordnung Sie nur vorginge. Ich würde Ries’ Symph. am 1t. Tage zu Eröffnung des Festes lieber sehn; einmal weil der Platz der Feierlichste ist, und weil am 2t. Tage durch den Wechsel des Styls nicht so auffallend wäre. Diese letztere Rücksicht scheint mir wichtig , u. ich bitte deshalb die Sache noch einmal in Bewerthung zu ziehen, u. mir das Ergebnis mitzutheilen. […]“ Weiter ausführlich über den Einbau der Orgel, die für Händels Oratorium unverzichtbar sei, die Vorbereitung der Orchesterstimmen, die Klavierauszüge für die Proben, die Auswahl der Sänger usw..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Gedr. Programm zur Erinnerung an das Erste Abonnementskonzert vom 9.03.1843 unter der der Leitung von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. o. O. 8vo. 4 pp. Knickspuren.
$ 1,312 / 1.200 € (82103)

Gedrucktes Programm zur Jubiläumsaufführung in Erinnerung „an das erste Leipziger Abonnement-Concert (den 11. März 1843) und dessen erste Jahresfeier (den 9. März 1843). „Den 11. März wurde von 16. Personen, sowohl Adel als Bürgerlichen Standes das große Concert angelegt, wobei iede Person jährlich zu Erhaltung deßelben 20 R, und zwar vierteljährlich 1Louisd’or erlegen mußten, die Anzahl der Musicirenden waren gleichfalß 16. außerlesene Personen, und wurde solches erstlich in der Grimmischen Gaße bey dem Herrn Ber Rath Schwaben, nachgehends in 4.

Wochen drauf, weil bey erstern der Platz zu enge, bey Herr Gleditzschen dem Buchführer aufgeführet und gehalten.“ Das Programm von 1843 erinnert an die Historie. Gespielt werden „Doles (1743 Musikdirector beim Leipziger Abonnement-Concert), [...] Joh. Sebastian Bach (1743 Cantor an der Thomasschule) [...] Johann Adam Hiller (1781-1785 Musikdirector beim Abonn.-Concert, 1789-1800 Cantor an der Thomasschule(, [...] J. G. Schicht (1785-1810 Musikdirector beim Abonnement-Concert, 1810-1825 Cantor an der Thomasschule) [...] Mathai (gewesenem Concertmeister beim Abonn.-Concert) [...] Ferdinand David (jetzigem Concertmeister beim Abonnement-Concert), [...] Mortiz Hauptmann (jetzigem Cantor an der Thomasschule), [...] Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (jetzigem Musikdirector beim Abonnement-Concert) [...]“ Der zweite Teil ist gewidmet „Grosse Symphonie mit Chören über Schillers Lied an die Freude, von L. van Beethoven.“ Zuzüglich Gesangstext und der witzigen Anmerkung „Die Aufführung der Chöre hat eine bedeutende Anzahl hiesiger Dilettanten, in Verbindung mit dem Thomaner Chore gütigst übernommen.“ Seit 1743 wurden die Konzerte des späteren Gewandthausorchesters von einer aus Adligen und Bürgern bestehenden Gesellschaft getragen. Die von ihr veranstalteten „Großen Musicalischen Concerte“ fanden zuerst in Bürgerhäusern statt. Aufgrund des großen Zuspruchs wurde bald schon ein Saal im Gasthaus „Zu den drei Schwanen“ gemietet. Hier trafen sich über 30 Jahre lang diejenigen Leipziger Bürger, die den hohen Jahresbeitrag zahlen konnten. Von dem Geld wurden die Musiker honoriert. Am Anfang waren es 16, die das Konzertorchester bildeten. Ihm gehörten zur einen Hälfte Berufsmusiker, unter ihnen die Stadtmusiker, und zur anderen Hälfte Studenten der Leipziger Universität an. Im Gewandhaus, der Gewerbehalle der Tuchmacher, gab es zu dieser Zeit einen großen, ungenutzten Dachboden. Auf Initiative eines Bürgermeisters wurde er als Konzertsaal ausgebaut. Im November 1781 fand das erste „Gewandhauskonzert“ statt. Der Komponist, Pianist und Organist Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy kam im August 1835 nach Leipzig und gab am 4. Oktober – offiziell als Kapellmeister, aber erstmals schon im Stil eines modernen Dirigenten – das erste Konzert im Gewandhaus mit seiner Ouvertüre Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, die verglichen mit seinen anderen Ouvertüren heute weniger oft aufgeführt wird. Mendelssohns Gewandhauskonzerte wurden begeistert aufgenommen. Seine Anerkennung drückte sich auch in einer Ehrendoktorwürde in Philosophie aus, die ihm am 20. März 1836 verliehen wurde. In dieser Zeit bemühte er sich – als großer Verehrer von Joseph Haydn – um die Propagierung von Haydn-Werken, die er beispielsweise mit großem Erfolg am 22. Februar 1838 in Leipzig aufführte. Mendelssohn Bartholdy blieb bis zu seinem Tod Kapellmeister des Gewandthaus..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

German composer (1809-1847). Autograph Letter Signed ("Felix Mendelssohn+Bartholdy") to the publishing house of C.F. Peters. Düsseldorf. 4to (254 x 411 mm). 1 p. with integral autograph address leaf. Pages toned with some staining, restoration at center vertical fold, sheet laid down to mount.
$ 7,106 / 6.500 € (91227)

Letter to the publishing house of C.F. Peters regarding their offer to publish his work, , , , and framed with portrait. Much of Mendelssohn's early works, including quartets composed when he was just a teenager and the edition of Bach's St. Matthew Passion which reignited interest in the earlier composer, were published by A.M. Schlesinger of Berlin. By 1834, however, as this letter from the firm of C.F. Peters (known today as Edition Peters) attests, other established publishers were reaching out to print Mendelssohn's works. "Your letter of the 9th gave me great pleasure and I thank you very much for it.

The many excellent works that you have continually published, and the high rank that your publishing activity occupies in the musical world had long since made me want to do something of mine with you and see you publish it, and I would certainly have uttered it if I would have thought that you would [...] welcome this. I am all the more pleased to now receive your letter and I accept your [...] business offer that is so honorable to me(?) with great pleasure. Since I understand you might prefer pianoforte-compositions I would have liked to give you something of the same kind [...] but I have nothing ready to hand over at this moment. I hope, however, [...] that several works that are occupying me at the moment will be finished in a while, and [...] among them also pianoforte-stuff, some of which I started. As soon as they are ready, I will take the liberty of writing to you, and I will ask you then for your friendly and honorable sentiments. / Your news of the good success of my Calm Sea made me very happy, and I wish I had been at the concert, since I mailed the score right after I finished it, so I haven't even heard the piece yet." Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Op. 27), originally performed in 1828 and published in 1834 by the firm of Breitkopf & Hartel, was inspired both by the two Goethe poems mentioned in the title and by Beethoven's own similarly titled 1814-15 work for chorus and orchestra which had fallen into neglect by the time of Mendelssohn's writing..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Letter signed ("F MB"). Berlin. 09.04.1830. 4 SS. auf Doppelblatt. 4to.
$ 13,665 / 12.500 € (44413/BN30949)

Via Carl Klingemann to the German Orientalist Friedrich Rosen (1805-1837) in London, sharing his observations on the cold and malicious nature of the Berliners. The composer laments about the way the denizens seem to make it a point to treat the artists poorly during performances: "On the Festival you already know the details from Klingemann; it has become one of our dearest recollections, and I think it is my best composition. A few weeks later the surgeon declared my knee to be completely cured, and I thought I would be leaving shortly, but then the bitter cold came and I postponed the journey and began a large work (a symphony for orchestra, on which I worked a lot every day; it isn't quite finished, but I hope I can finish it before my departure, as I have already begun the last movement.

My illness surprised me a few days before my departure, I had already taken my leave and had started to pack; now I'll have to postpone that at least a fortnight longer, but then I think I can leave; my plan is to go from here via Weimar to Munich, then through the Tyrol to Vienna; from Vienna I intend to go to Venice and Upper Italy in the middle or toward the end of summer, and then I think I'll spend next winter in Rome and Naples, then in the spring, if it is permitted to spend so much time on a plan, go to Paris and then to London from time to time, where there may be much smoke and fog and great crowds and poverty, but where pretty nice people live, too, and where I wasn't so bad off for a year. But will I find the same people there then? On this, as on your whole Let (that is Sanscrit for the future) I ask you to let [me] know a lot, also about everything which is dear and precious to me in London, and about our friends at some length. For you have a sharp eye, professor, and when you are sitting on the blue sofa, or silently making tea, or modestly gliding to and fro in the halls of the university with a light red [folder] and a long black robe, you will still make your accurate remarks and comments, and I expect more from you than from many a Berlin lady. What I have to tell you about Berlin, at last, is little and not pleasant, the people are cold, malicious, and make it a point of honor never to be content; even when [Henriette] Sonntag performed recently she was received quite coldly and was palpably slighted in favor of the others in the cast; her sister, who performed the next evening, was almost completely hissed from the stage, for which the other faction took revenge, and in their first scene (in Othello), all the participants were hissed at and Mme. Sonntag had a curtain call, and at that they speak, think, and do nothing differently than Mme. Sonntag and the factions for and against her. But is such formation of factions something a reasonable and interested public should do and doesn't it spoil any enjoyment of the work of art and all joy of the artist? But that's how they are in big and little things, and the Flower Market that opened yesterday in the University Gardens, for which a single gardener has obtained a monopoly, is just as good a proof of it as the dearth of operas other than by Spontini and Auber for which the Royal Theater has in turn obtained a monopoly, and like the monotony of the parties and conversations here; God will improve this when He has nothing to do but that, but I'm afraid He'll get other things and so much to reform that the Berliners' turn won't come for a long time, so for now they are good enough. Let me know what the Johnstons are doing, whether Ritter is still the same as back then, and whether Mühlenfels has been successfully introduced to society and speaks French with Federita. Let me know, too, about the stone monkeys, the wooden chairs from King Edmund the Cannibal's time, and the scraped-off portraits. My chests from England arrived a few days ago and filled me with longing again. Have you been back to Atwood's again since then, and did you entertain the fellow with some Ikojan Atchi? You see how I have learned from you. In short, write me about each and every thing, but especially, write me [...]" (transl.). - Friedrich Rosen became Professor of Sanscrit at the University of London (later University College) in 1827, at the age of twenty-two. Carl Klingemann was Mendelssohn's close friend and collaborator who wrote the words for many of the composer's songs. Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse had been Mendelssohn's tutor until 1827. The Festival is possibly the Grosse Festmusik zum Dareifest (Grand Festive Music for the Durer Celebration) of 1828. The Symphony may be the Fingal's Cave Overture written in 1830. One of the Liechtenstein songs is doubtless Frühlingslied (Song of Spring), op. 19, no. 1..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed. Leipzig. 18.03.1839. 4 SS. auf Doppelblatt. 4to.
$ 19,678 / 18.000 € (44414/BN30950)

To the Committee for this year's Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Dusseldorf. Mendelssohn, the 1839 Director of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, writes to the festival's committee recommending the works to be included. "I hasten to answer, as the time is indeed approaching and is beginning to press. Against the march and chorus from the Ruins of Athens, which you are adding to the second day, it is only natural that I have nothing to object; I would suggest putting the piece right after the Eroica Symphony, where it would certainly have a good effect.

But I wouldn't know what cantata by Bach to suggest for the second day as now programmed; I don't know any which would fit in as regards the time it needs and even more as regards style; if another piece needs to be selected, I would perhaps suggest the chorus by Haydn 'Des Staubes eitle Sorgen' but it seems enough to me, anyway. In 1833 with you and 1834 in Aachen, the program of the 2nd day was shorter than this; last year in Cologne it was at least no longer, and so I think: 1) Eroica Symph[ony], march and chorus by Beeth[oven], new hymn by Spohr. 2) Overture and Psalm -would be quite a sufficient program. To be sure, if Herr Rietz doesn't keep his promise, quite a substantial overture would have to be selected, to make the second part as interesting as possible. But this time the main thing for me would be if you could manage to have Alceste performed in the theater. You write of the difficulties with the chorus; they are indeed the biggest ones that can place themselves in its way, to my knowledge, but even if they couldn't be removed, I would prefer seeing Alceste performed with a very bad chorus a hundred times more than giving up the idea completely. First, in Alceste the main thing is Alceste herself, then Admet, then Hercules, and then only the chorus, and with a performance to be expected from Frl. von Fassmann and Tichatschek or Eichberger or some other outstanding Admet, the chorus recedes in any case into the background. Then there is the second question if it is impossible to improve the chorus? Couldn't 12-20 of the best chorus singers be brought in from Cologne and Aachen? I would with pleasure come a week earlier myself for this and hold separate rehearsals for the chorus every day to make this performance possible. Finally, several passages could and in such a case would have to be deleted, such as the ball in the second act and similar passages in which the chorus plays too much of a main part, and as I said, that would be that much more feasible as Alceste herself and her and Admet's suffering are definitely the main thing in the opera. As several of your members know, I already felt the urgent wish for something new in the course and sequence of the music festival last year, and I said so. My suggestions on this were perhaps not practical, but now, through this coincidence, the opportunity arises this time in Dusseldorf, at least, of giving the festival a new attraction of the kind I had in mind. If this music festival performs the Messiah on the first day, then the Beethoven symphony with a miscellaneous program, and finally a Gluck opera (and even if it is most inferior in execution and even if it has the worst chorus, but beautifully sung in the main roles and beautifully played by the orchestra), this would indeed be something new, as I wished, and because of that this music festival would be outstanding as compared to all the earlier ones. I would therefore very much wish that this plan, even if it be only the hope of it, be mentioned already in your first tentative announcements - how differently would the music festival appear because of it! In the interest of the public, too; in regard to the box office it would also make a palpable difference. Of course I assume that the performance would have to be considered in conjunction with both the others, and only those would receive tickets to the opera who had attended the music festival on the preceding days or had been participants in it. And even if the prices were not raised, the proceeds would be significant. Not to mention the enjoyment all friends of music would derive from it. I ask you to let me know your answer as soon as possible, as I would, as I said, to this end make my departure earlier, if necessary. In any case your speedy answer is now very much desired, as the time is now fast approaching [...]" (transl.). - In a postscript, Mendelssohn has written: "The fine tenor here, Schmidt, just came to ask if he couldn't take part in the music festival; he would try to arrange things so that he could come there at that time and take a solo pan. I told him you had written Tichatschek, but he claims that he is giving guest performances in Berlin at Pentecost and would thus not be able to come to the Rhine. Also, the things that Schmoetzer and Eichberger, whom I mentioned to him, are also detained. So I don't hesitate to let you know about his wish. In a second postscript written in the left margin of the first page Mendelssohn has added; Please have the kindness to hand the enclosed letter over to Director Schadow" (transl.). - The Lower Rhenish Music Festival (Das Niederrheinische Musikfest) was one of the most important festivals of classical music, which happened every year with few exceptions between 1818 and 1958 at Pentecost for 112 times. The Festival was held in various German cities over time and the directors included Robert Schuman, Richard Strauss, Franz Liszt, Otto Goldschmidt, Anton Rubinstein, Hans Richter & Richard Strauss. - Light browning; small clipped section on f. 2..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed ("Felix"). Leipzig. 20.11.1837. Groß 4to. 2 SS.
$ 19,678 / 18.000 € (48923/BN33034)

To an undisclosed recipient: "When I posted the letter to you the day before yesterday, I already half suspected that yours would come yesterday - and it really did, and scolded me, and I deserved it, too. But write me again soon and tell me how you are. Your letter is in a bad mood, and it couldn't very well be otherwise; but tell me, couldn't you undertake some good and proper project of your own, in seclusion, as a comfort and therapeutic? [...] I am sending this letter with Rosen's portrait to Paul in Hamburg, who has just arrived there and will be staying there a few months; he will certainly be able to send it to you soon.

I hardly think the sketch will be of any use because it was done so very hastily; but I find the likeness so very good, and I ask particularly to see to it that I get it back undamaged. When you write of the dead season again, and I think again of the despairing foggy days I was amazed to see this time in James Park, and when I then also see the disgusting snow that has been lying here for several days, then I say Germany forever, after all. Small and miserably dead it is here, and yet there is much to live for. If I had enough character to turn down the next Rhinish Music Festival, it could be possible that I would stay entirely, my whole life, sitting here in Leipzig, and I and my art, we would be only the better for it. But I fear I am too vain for them; and yet I must do it sooner or later. We are furnishing our flat - as people say - i.e., there has been constant talk of wallpaper, curtains, and furniture, and in a week we are supposed to be able to move in, although we don't want to until 4 weeks from now; in a new house standing alone, on the third floor, the view to the South over the fields and the forest, to the North on the promenade and the city and towers, to the West on a big water mill with its wheels, then you only have to drop in, your quarters are ready; in a room papered with bouquets of flowers you are to have lodgings, and the white hall and our rooms are completely at your disposal. You shall hear music, half as much as I in the last weeks, i.e., up to your ears - singing, piano, quartets, of whatever kind you want. And better than all that you will find my Rüdesheimer 1834 wine. I picked it out in Bingen, had a cask of it transported here, and am creating a huge furor with it here in Leipzig because they aren't used to things like that. And now even you, who has had to make do with the barbaric [...] things: Hock [Hochheimer is a wine from the Main area], and still have a German heart - you will like it [...]" (transl. from the German original). - Mendelssohn paraphrases the quote from the opening poem of Goethe's collection of poetry, The West Eastern Divan: "North and West and South splinter, thrones burst, kingdoms tremble; fee to taste the air of patriarchs in the pure East". Rosen, to whom he refers, is the Sanskrit scholar Friedrich Rosen, who had died in London on September 12, 1837. Cecile Jeanrenaud is Mendelssohn's wife, who he had married on March 28, 1837. - Crude repair to marginal tears..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed (within the text). "4 Hobart Place Eaton Sqa.", i. e. London. 28.04.1847. 1 S. auf Doppelblatt. 8vo.
$ 3,280 / 3.000 € (60931/BN44887)

To Mrs. Erskine, possibly the wife of the Scottish orientalist and historian William Erskine: "Mr. Mendelssohn presents his Compts. to Mrs. Erskine & regrets most sincerely not to be able to accept of Mrs. Erskine's very kind invitation; as he must leave London already next week he is not sure whether he will be able to thank Mrs. Erskine in person for her kind note, but he hopes to find an opportunity of doing so [...]". - Mendelssohn was known to have been in London in April 1847, to hear Jenny Lind sing in Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable".

Mendelssohn greatly admired Lind and in the 1840s she became a protégée - it was rumoured that in 1847 he had written to her to suggest an elopement, though she was married at the time. - On laid paper watermarked "J. WHATMAN", with two early horizontal folds, in very good condition. - Though not formally signed, the use of his name at the beginning is effectively a signature..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed. Leipzig. 20.06.1846. 2 SS. auf Doppelblatt. Folio.
$ 10,385 / 9.500 € (80877/BN52756)

A deeply affectionate letter to Mrs. Verkenius, the widow of the District Court Councillor Erich Verkenius (1776-1841), founder and patron of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, and to their daughter Sibylla as well as to their son-in-law, the banker Ignatz Seydlitz (1803-70), at whose house Mendelssohn had spent the night during the first choral festival of the German-Flemish Sängerbund, which had taken place in Cologne on June 14th and 15th, directed by himself and Franz Weber: "Dear Mr. Seydlitz and dear Mrs.

Verkenius - for in fact I would like to address this letter to all three of you - I am happily returned and have found all my family safe and sound, thank God. And now I feel as though I needed quickly to return to Malzbüchel no. 4 [the Seydlitzes' address] and say something about thanks and never forgetting - which would probably sound quite as ungraceful as these lines read, but would be meant no less earnestly and sincerely. Of course you are already aware of everything I am trying to say; you know that a reception such as the one I just enjoyed at your house, and everything that was mentioned again of the present and the past, and, in brief, that lasting, unchangeable friendship is and always will be the finest, dearest and best thing in the world, and that you thus have beatified for me these just-spent days into true feasts. This is what I wished to thank you for! There have been but few hours since I parted with you that I did not do so in spirit […] (transl.)"..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Scribal musical manuscript signed. "Ruhethal" and "Jagdlied". No place. Small folio (249 x 325 mm). 2 pp. on a single leaf. Brown ink on 12-stave paper with words and music.
$ 20,224 / 18.500 € (82508/BN53633)

The alto parts for "Ruhethal" and for the beginning of "Jagdlied", the final two of the six songs that make up Mendelssohn's "Sechs Lieder im Freien zu singen", op. 59 (MWF F 21-22). The songs were composed for mixed a capella chorus, without accompaniment, between 1837 and 1843; the present songs were written on March 3 and 5, 1843. Dedicated to Henriette Benecke, his wife's aunt with whom the Mendelssohns lodged during their 1842 visit to London, the work was first published in 1844. The music in the hand of Amadeus Eduard Anton Henschke (1804-54), with the words of the text added by Mendelssohn himself, and his note and signature at the end of "Ruhethal": "Noten von Henschke, Text von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy".

- "Ruhethal" ("Adagio") sets a poem by the Swabian poet Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), "Wenn im letzten Abendstrahl goldne Wolkenberge steigen", 35 measures in D major and 2/4 time. "Jagdlied" (" Allegro molto quasi Presto") is based on the poem by Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857), "Durch schwankende Wipfel schießt goldener Strahl", in B minor, the relative minor of the preceding song's scale, in 4/4 time, comprising the first 17 measures, including a stricken-out passage. - A horizontal tear in the central fold and another near the bottom have been professionally repaired. "Ruhethal" and the edges of "Jagdlied" a little browned from former mounting and presentation..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph musical manuscript. O. O. 1¼ SS. Folio.
$ 20,224 / 18.500 € (82613/BN53795)

12 staves with text in German. Tenor trombone part for Mendelssohn's 1933 revision of the oratorio "Israel in Egypt" by Georg Friedrich Handel. The trombone in heard in the fanfare in E flat, as well as after the two choruses "Singet unserm Gott denn er hat geholfen wunderbar" and "Heil dreimal Heil dem heißgeliebten König, Heil, ewig Heil dem theuren Vaterland". - "As a conductor, Mendelssohn advocated the works of the baroque composers Bach and Handel with particular zeal. He used his stays in London to study Handel's original scores.

In the Queen's Library he made important discoveries with regard to the oratorio 'Israel in Egypt', and the results were incorporated into his performances of 'Israel', which he conducted a total of five times, or the first time in Düsseldorf in 1833 for the Niederrheinisches Musikfest, in a version tailored to the practical necessities of the venue. The unavailable organ was replaced by additional wind parts, and the score, then a two-part structure, was supplemented by insertions from other works by Handel or recitatives assigned to this oratorio. The 'trumpet overture' composed by Mendelssohn was prefixed to the work - a workaround solution, since the performance would, unusually, have started with a recitative" (cf. Thomas Hennig, "Die Aufführungen des "Israel in Aegypten" unter Leitung Mendelssohns"). - Somewhat spotted and browned; minor damage to edges..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph musical quotation signed. Schwerin. Neun Takte auf 1 S. Qu.-kl.-8vo (140:83 mm). Montiert auf Trägerpapier.
$ 19,678 / 18.000 € (89961/BN59386)

Mendelssohn has carefully penned a nine-bar musical quotation, captioned "Canone a 2", corresponding to his work Canon in B minor. - Four corners lightly affixed to a slightly larger page. With small overall age wear, otherwise in good condition.

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed. Ostende und London. 3 SS. auf Doppelblatt. Gr.-4to. Mit eh. Adresse (Faltbrief).
$ 26,237 / 24.000 € (89964/BN59389)

This fine letter was written at the outset of Mendelssohn's 1842 visit to London, a trip which saw the English premiere of the Scottish Symphony. It formed a reply to a letter of 18 May 1842 to Mendelssohn by the German critic, composer and political revolutionary Alfred Julius Becher (1803-1848). At the time Becher was writing for the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung, having been encouraged to do so by Mendelssohn. Admired also by Schumann and Wagner, the latter considering him 'passionate and exceedingly cultured', Becher was to meet an untimely death during the revolutionary year of 1848, when his political activities led to his being court-martialled for treason and shot.

Some 27 letters by Becher to Mendelssohn are known (1833-1847), but only four by the composer to the critic (from the years 1841, 1842 and 1846). The text of this letter, whose autograph has been unavailable for consultation by modern Mendelssohn scholarship, differs in a number of details from that in Renate Federhofer-Königs' edition of 1992 and in the Sämtliche Briefe (vol.8) edition of 2013. - Mendelssohn is reacting with some irritation at Becher's intention to defend him against criticisms contained in an article by Heine, which he has not seen, noting that the best policy is not to reply at all and to write new and better music, declining Becher's request for an article concerning the Düsseldorf music festival, making plain his antipathy towards contributing in any form to musical journals, assuring him however that he will relay his request to Klingemann [for a report on German opera in London], thanking him for his interest concerning his desire to write an opera, observing that while nothing would claim his attention more at the moment than this, he cannot undertake to compose any such work whose libretto does not completely satisfy him, adding that there is no truth to the report that he is writing an opera for Paris, to a libretto by Scribe, just as there was no foundation to a claim in the Allgemeine Zeitung that he was applying for the post of Thomaskantor at Leipzig; in the central portion of the letter Mendelssohn relates in heartfelt fashion his dissatisfaction with his life and position in Berlin, noting that it is already certain that he will have nothing to do with the opera, and fearing that he will be excluded from all musical influence there, states that [in Berlin] he would have all the time to compose as well as receiving paid holiday in the summer, but agonises over whether, despite these advantages, he should remain in a city where the outlook is so poor for music and musicians, pointing out his reluctance to disappoint the king [Friedrich Wilhelm IV], and asking for Becher's objective advice in this matter; in the final section of the letter, written from London, Mendelssohn informs his correspondent of Benecke's intention to visit Vienna soon and of Klingemann's decision not to promise to write for his journal. - Provenance: J. A. Stargardt, Catalogue 508 (5 May 1953), lot 67; Dr. Otto Liebmann; Antiquariat Hinterberger, Vienna. - Small holes on the third page from wear at folds, very small seal tear not affecting text..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed. Leipzig. ¾ S. auf Doppelblatt. 8vo. Mit eh. Adresse (Faltbrief).
$ 9,292 / 8.500 € (90093/BN59544)

To his publisher Friedrich Kistner about corrections to his cantata "Die erste Walpurgisnacht" (op. 60, MWV D 3): "Beiliegend die Partitur der Walpurgisnacht, die ich mit Schmerzen durchgesehn und von Henschkeschen Menschlichkeiten möglichst befreit habe. Auch die der Concert-Direction gehörigen Orchesterstimmen sende ich Ihnen hiemit; wollen Sie sie zum Stich benutzen, so müssen Sie versuchen ob Sie (der Verleger) sich mit sich (dem Concert-Director) darüber verständigen können; wo nicht, so geben Sie sie Griel, daß er sie wieder in den Schrank thut [...]" ("Enclosed is the score of Walpurgisnacht, which I have painstakingly gone over and freed from Henschke's slips as far as possible.

I am also sending you the orchestral parts of the Concert-Direction; if you wish to use them for engraving, you should see whether you (the publisher) can come to an agreement with him (the Concert-Director); if not, give them to Griel so that he can put them back in the box [...]"). - Amadeus Eduard Anton Henschke was Mendelssohn's music copyist in Leipzig; Griel was a concert servant at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Kistner himself was "because of his great organisational skills [...] appointed to the concert directorate of the Leipzig Gewandhaus [in 1835], where he took over the financial matters and the organisation of the Gewandhaus concerts. In 1843 he also became treasurer of the Leipzig Conservatoire founded by Mendelssohn and 'Deputierter aus der Klasse der Musikalienhändler' at the booktrade union in Leipzig" (Elvers, see below). - Mendelssohn wrote his cantata after Goethe's ballad of the same name in 1831/32. "Ten years later, in 1842/43, Mendelssohn fundamentally reworked his work. This second version, rehearsed and conducted (as the previous one) by the composer, was premiered on 02.021843 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Among the audience were Robert Schumann and Hector Berlioz, who was particularly enthusiastic about the work. It is in this second version that the work is usually performed today" (Wikipedia). - With a small tear due to the broken seal, this itself - black and with Mendelssohn's initials - is well preserved; slightly creased and torn..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed. Leipzig. ¾ S. 8vo. Mit eh. Adresse (Faltbrief).
$ 13,665 / 12.500 € (90094/BN59545)

To the Leipzig bookseller, art dealer and publisher Theodor Oswald Weigel about the acquisition of two sets of Beethoven manuscripts. Mendelssohn is quite prepared "to pay the requested sum of 25 Louis d'or for the two volumes of Beethoven manuscripts that I recently saw in your library. However, my means would not allow me to pay a higher price and I would have to refrain from buying if the owners were to change their minds about these conditions. I very much hope this will not be the case, as you informed me of the conditions in your name and I can therefore safely assume that they will remain so [...]".

- Mendelssohn owned a whole series of autographs by Beethoven and others, some of which he may have received from Giacomo Meyerbeer's brother Heinrich, the enfant terrible of the family. "Although the Beer and Mendelssohn families did not like each other", a remark by Heinrich Heine in his "Confessions" (published in the "Vermischte Schriften" of 1854) provides a hint "that Heinrich Beer and Mendelssohn knew each other. Thus, it is quite credible that the eccentric Beer gave the score of the 7th Symphony to Felix Mendelssohn; whether he also gave all the other pieces mentioned cannot currently be determined. In any case, Heinrich Beer's collection of autographs, which also included Mozart's 'Abduction from the Seraglio', later belonged to Paul Mendelssohn [Felix's brother], and was expanded by pieces from Bach, which demonstrably belonged to Felix. There is no reference to this collection in the numerous papers left by Felix nor in those of Paul. It can be assumed that Felix gave his autographs to Paul for safe-keeping, as Paul was considered the 'guardian' of the family, not only in financial matters" (cf. Elvers). In 1908, Mendelssohn's Beethoven autographs were acquired by the Royal Library in Berlin through a donation by Ernst von Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Paul's son. - Slight signs of wear..

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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Komponist (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed ("Felix"). Birmingham. 9 Zeilen auf Doppelblatt. 4to. Mit einem gezeichneten Herzen und schwarzem Siegel.
$ 27,330 / 25.000 € (91512/BN60780)

One of only two surviving letters to his young wife Cécile Jeanrenaud: "Voici, chère Cécile, comme je garde ma promesse ! 1000 lieues ! 1000 baisers ! Espoir !". - The "promise" to which Mendelssohn alludes probably refers to his departure from England immediately after his participation in the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival on September 20th and 21st, 1837, though he may also have presented his wife this note personally upon his return, with a little gift. - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Cécile Jeanrenaud (1817-53) had met on 4 May 1836 and married in Frankfurt on 28 March 1837.

Not even six months after the wedding, Mendelssohn travelled to Birmingham to conduct his "Paulus" and to premiere his 2nd piano concert. On September 27th the couple was reunited in Leipzig. - The uncommon seal, which forms part of the message, comprises the word "[H]élas", the number "1000", and a line of music with the note E - probably for "Espoir". - The only other known letter by Mendelssohn to Cécile is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford..

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Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

E. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847), German composer. ALS (“Felix”). Leipzig, 25 Feb. 1840. 8°. 2 ¾ pp. on double leaf. With autogr. address. In German. Fine letter to his childhood friend Julius Schubring (1806–89), regarding festival music for Leipzig – probably the “Festgesang” for Johannes Gutenberg for the Printers’ Festival in June. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy describes his ideas for the composition very vividly and in great detail, also relating to ideas Schubring had advanced in an earlier letter. He tells his friend to completely disregard the festival’s organizers: he had only promised them a new composition, but not necessarily anything tailored to the occasion. If necessary, he has plenty of other new compositions ready. Mendelssohn proceeds to enquire about the apocryph gospel of Nicodemus and his descent into hell which Schubring had mentioned, and intends to base his great composition on heaven and hell upon it. He enquires about the main outline of this gospel and where he might get hold of a synopsis, as he does not suppose a translation is available and would much prefer not to have to read it in Greek. – Printed (with variations) in: Julius Schubring (ed.), Briefwechsel zwischen Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und Julius Schubring. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Theorie des Oratoriums. Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, 1892. – Slight defect to fol. 2. due to opened seal (seal perfectly preserved; no loss to text).


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

E. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847), composer. ALS. Leipzig, 11 July 1846. 1 p. on double leaf. Large 4°. With autogr. address and well-preserved seal. – In German. To the city councillor J. Seydlitz in Cologne: “Today I approach you with a musico-diplomatic request. Mrs. Hermentag (I hope I am not misspelling the name) has repeatedly desired me to procure a permanent position as a concert singer for Miss Schloss, either here or elsewhere. Now, counter to my expectations, I just have heard of such a position, and it is possible that the same might be given to Miss Schloss, but before I could do anything in this matter I would have to know whether she will be available next winter and whether she is inclined to accept such a position in Germany, on German (not English) terms. This question, however, I hesitate to pose to Miss Schloss directly, and I also do not wish to trouble you with it, but as you see Mrs. Hermentag so frequently and she seemed to close to Miss Schloss, this way seemed the easiest to me to find out, and so I ask this of you [...]”. – The recipient of this letter was the son-in-law of the jurist Erich Heinrich Verkenius (1776–1841). Mendelssohn Bartholdy visited him on August 15 during his journey to Birmingham, where his oratory “Elias” was to enjoy its first performance on August 26. – The Cologne contralto Sophie Schloss (1822–1903) had known Mendelssohn Bartholdy since 1836. She had sung at the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf in 1839 under Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s direction; later she frequently participated in concerts at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and sung in several first performances of Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s works (including the definitive version of the “First Walpurgis Night”, op. 60, 1843). – With small registration mark in blue pencil at top left corner of the first page.


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

E. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847), Komponist. E. Brief mit U. Leipzig, 30. März 1841. 1¼ SS. Gr.-8°. Mit e. Adresse (Faltbrief). – An den mit ihm befreundeten Maler Eduard Bendemann: „Die Ueberbringerinn (oder -schickerin) dieser Zeilen Sophy Horsley gehört nebst ihrem Bruder, der sie begleitet[,] zu meinen besten, genauesten Englischen Freunden, und daher möchte ich zweierlei: einmal daß sie Dich, wenn auch nur auf kurze Zeit in den 3 Tagen ihres Aufenthaltes zu sehen bekäme; dann, daß Du ihr für diese 3 Tage Erlaubniß gebest die Gallerie zu sehn [...] Sie hat 14 Tagen bei uns gewohnt, kann Dir also alles mögliche, das Du wissen willst, von uns erzählen [...]“. – Sophy Horsley war die Tochter des mit Mendelssohn-Bartholdy seit 1829 eng befreundeten Komponisten William Horsley (1774–1858) – Eduard Bendemann (1811–1889) „galt als große Hoffnung der Düsseldorfer Schule und wurde 1836/37 mit Julius Hübner als Professor und 1838 als Leiter eines Malerateliers an die Dresdener Akademie berufen. In dieser Zeit malte [er] die Wandgemälde des Schlosses (1839–55) und seine besten Portraits“ (DBE). Nach Wilhelm von Schadows Rücktritt vom Amt des Direktors der Düsseldorfer Akademie 1859 übernahm Bendemann deren Leitung, „bis er 1867 u. a. aus gesundheitlichen Gründen resignierte. Sein Haus war Anziehungspunkt bedeutender Persönlichkeiten, unter ihnen Clara Schumann“ (ebd.).


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

E. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847), Komponist. E. Brief mit U. Leipzig, 16. September 1839. 2½ SS. auf Doppelblatt. Gr.-8°. Mit e. Adresse (Faltbrief). – Nach seiner Rückkehr nach Leipzig an den Getreide- und Hopfenhändler Dietrich Wilhelm Krause (1773–1845) mit Dank für den so überaus gastfreundlichen Aufenthalt bei Krause in Braunschweig: „[...] Es geht mir mit dem Schreiben von dem was ich so recht herzlich meine fast wie mit dem Sprechen – es will mir nicht so wie ich’s fühle aus der Feder, so wenig wie aus dem Munde [...] Unsere musikalische Saison fängt nun nach Gerade an, einige Virtuosen lassen sich schon sehen u. bald auch hören, man verspricht uns eine sehr gute Concertsängerinn [!] aus Brüssel, und ich hoffe Sie würden einen Ausflug hieher nicht zu bereuen haben, wenn wir es Ihnen auch nicht in dem Maaße schön bieten könnten, wie Sie uns bei sich [...] Herrn u. Frau Hollandt geht es hoffentlich so wohl, wie ich von Herzen wünsche [...]“. – Krause war der Besitzer der in frühklassizistischem Still errichteten Villa Salve Hospes in Braunschweig, wo Mendelssohn Bartholdy logiert haben dürfte; nach Krauses Tod erbte seine Adoptivtochter Helene Sand (1816–1866), die mit dem holländischen Offizier Hermann Hollandt verheiratet war, das Anwesen, das im 19. Jahrhundert zum Mittelpunkt des kulturellen und gesellschaftlichen Lebens in Braunschweigs zählte und wo u. a. Caroline Schlegel, Friedrich Schelling und Hans Christian Andersen verkehrten. – Das Respektblatt mit kleinem Ausschnitt durch Öffnen der Verschlußmarke und kleinen Notizen von fremder Hand zum Verfasser; leicht knittrig. – Unveröffentlicht.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. musikalisches Albumblatt mit Widmung und U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Three bars of singing scores from Mendelssohn’s oratory “Paulus” (op. 36), the beginning of the chorus, “Show us clemency, great Gods”. With dedication “to Mrs. Helene Hollandt in kind memory.” – “But why do the horns not start?” – In August and September of 1839, Mendelssohn Bartholdy had spent several days as a guest at the Braunschweig villa Salve Hospes, which Helene Hollandt’s (1816–1866) adoptive father, the grain and hops merchant Dietrich Wilhelm Krause (1773–1845), had built in the early 19th century and which had become a center of Braunschweig’s cultural life and society, a place frequented by Caroline Schlegel, Friedrich Schelling, and Hans Christian Andersen. – Decorative lithographed border. Noticeable edge defects; slight paper loss in upper right corner (no loss to text). Somewhat dusty.


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

„Canone a 2“. Eigenh. musikalisches Albumblatt mit Widmung und U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Mendelssohn pens 14 bars of music on two staves, identifying it above as “Canone a 2,” with the place and date below, “Leipzig 28th Marz, 1841.” In fine condition, with light overall toning (heavier to edges), a few tears repaired with tape to reverse, and a few other small edge chips and tears (none affecting the music or signature). Pencil notation to reverse describes it as an unpublished canon in E-flat minor (misidentified, as this is in C minor). This is most likely a later transcript of the original canons composed in 1837–38. The earliest known example, dated February 1839, is now preserved in the Bibliotheque National in Paris.


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix

E. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847), Komponist. E. Brief mit U. Leipzig, 2. April 1847. ¾ S. auf Doppelblatt. Gr.-4°. Mit wohlerhaltenem rotem Lacksiegel. – Empfehlungsschreiben für einen ehemaligen Schüler, den Organisten und Pianisten Gustav Albrecht (1825–1901): „Daß Herr Gustav Albrecht mir als ein sehr tüchtiger und gründlicher Musiker bekannt ist, daß er auf dem Piano wie auf der Orgel bedeutende Fertigkeit mit ächter [!] Solidität verbindet, daß seine Kenntnisse in allem was zu wahrer musikalischer Bildung gehört ausgezeichnet und schätzenswerth sind, daß ich ihn mithin zu einer Organisten- od. Musikdirectorstelle vorzugsweise befähigt halte und ihn für den Fall einer solchen Vacanz aufs dringendste empfehlen kann bescheinige ich durch meinen Namen | Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“. – Mit kleinen Randläsuren und einem winzigen Papierdurchbruch inmitten; gering fleckig und mit leichtem Abklatsch des Siegels.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Brief mit U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

To Mme. Moscheles, wife of the pianist Ignaz Moscheles, asking for a meeting, and telling that his old teacher had died. - Mendelssohn were in London that time for the first performance of his concert overture The Hebrides. - Somwehat browned, edges slightly frayed; small tear on fol. 2 from opening; small traces of mounting.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Briefausschnitt mit eigenh. U.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Somewhat browned, and some damage to the right corner at bottom.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Brief mit U. „Felix MB“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

To musical director F. A. Succo (1801-1879) concerning an organ. Mendelssohn Bartholdy is not quite sure at the moment whether he wants to acquire it or not, and asks Succo not to undertake any efforts in any direction.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Ergänzungen und Unterschrift auf einer gedruckten Eintrittskarte der Direktion der Gewandhauskonzerte.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

Rare partly-printed 3.25 x 2.25 admission pass issued by the Directorate of Gewandhaus concerts, filled out and signed by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, March 10, 1847, made out for "Graf Reuss" and boldly signed in ink, "F. Mendelssohn." In fine condition.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Letter signed.
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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Gedr. Programm zum Antrittskonzert von „Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy“.
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Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Musikmanuskript.
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Choir sketch. Score for the words “I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake” (Isaiah 43:25). Eleven bars, ten staves (only the bottom four or five having been executed). Certificate of authenticity, signed by the composer’s brother-in-law Wilhelm Hensel, at the upper edge.


Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix

Eigenh. Brief mit U. ("Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy").
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

To Mr. Schramm, president of the committee for the 24th Lower Rhenish Music Festival, recommending tenors Carl Schrader and Heinrich Schmidt and mentioning the singer Adolph Schunck: "Dem geehrten Comité mache ich heut die Anzeige, daß der Tenorist [Carl] Schrader aus Wiesbaden wie auch der Tenorist [Heinrich] Schmidt aus Leipzig dem Vernehmen nach Lust u. Zeit haben würden, das Musikfest zu besuchen u. daher mitzuwirken. Ersteren habe ich noch nicht singen gehört; Sie würden in der dortigen Gegend leicht das Nähere über ihn erfahren können; letzerer hat vor 3 Jahren, wie Sie sich entsinnen werden, die sämmtlichen Blo's [?] im letzten Moment übernehmen müssen und durchaus ehrenwerth und befriedigend vorgetragen. Da man mir sagt, daß sich gegen das Engagement des diesjährigen Blosängers Hrn. [Adolph] Schunck Schwierigkeiten erhoben hätten, so hielt ich die sofortige Nachricht über diese beide Herren nicht für überflüssig. Mit der Bitte die inliegenden Briefe den Adressaten gefälligst zukommen zu lassen bin ich [...]".