Chapter III: Preface (3)

This morning I again forgot to mention, my dear Moscheles, what I have often intended asking and have as often forgotten,--how matters stand in reference to that publication of mine, and whether there has been any practical result. I have an appointment with V. Novello to-morrow morning; and if he has only sixpence to give me as my share, I would rather not broach the subject. So please leave word at my house whether you think I should mention the matter, or whether it had better rest in eternal oblivion. I return home to-morrow at eleven o’clock to know which way you decide. The saying is: “Merit has its crown;” so I scarcely expect I shall get as much as half a crown.

Yours,

F. MENDELSSOHN.

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At Mendelssohn’s request to find a publisher for the work, then called “Melodies for the Pianoforte,” Moscheles had made arrangements with the firm of Novello, according to which the composer was to receive a royalty on each copy sold. From the books of that eminent firm, we gather that the work was published in 1832, and that on the 11th of June, 1833, Mendelssohn received £4 16_s._ 0_d._, forty-eight copies being sold. In 1836, four years after the publication, only one hundred and fourteen copies had been disposed of. In 1837 Mendelssohn sold the copyright of the first and third books of “Songs without Words,” three Preludes and Fugues for the organ, and three Chorales for female voices, for £35, to Messrs. Novello. We are indebted to Messrs. Littleton of that firm for the original Assignment, which we reproduce.[18] The titlepage is a fac-simile of the manuscript in the possession of Felix Moscheles.[19]

During this stay Mendelssohn conducted his Symphony in A major (the Italian) for the first time, at one of the Philharmonic concerts. At No. 3 Chester Place he was a constant visitor, ever bright and welcome in a circle which included Hummel, Malibran, Paganini, Rubini, Schröder-Devrient, Cramer, etc. On the 17th of May he left for Düsseldorf, to conduct the Musical Festival on the 28th. From there he writes:--

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DÜSSELDORF, May 31, 1833.

DEAR MRS. MOSCHELES,--_Meâ culpâ_; but I have been more besieged than ever. I have dropped down on my bed at night unable to write or think, and scarcely able to speak. That sounds touching, but is true, nevertheless; so do not be too angry with me.

This is the first day of leisure, and I write to say that, please God, I shall be back in town on

Wednesday the 5th, ready to christen, play, conduct, and even to be a “genius.”

All else verbally. So farewell till we meet.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.

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Mendelssohn came, this time with his father, christened, played, and conducted, and otherwise kept his word. His first present to his godchild was an autograph album, which he inaugurated with the two pencil drawings reproduced here. The first represents the house in which the Moscheleses lived,--No. 3 Chester Place, Regent’s Park. Moscheles himself is supposed to be looking out of the window of his dressing-room. The second is a view taken in the Regent’s Park close to the house. Musically, too, he consecrated the album by a composition, the well-known Cradle Song in B flat, written for the occasion.[20]

In the course of years the pages of the little book have been covered with souvenirs from the pens and pencils of such friends as were not unworthy of inscribing their names next to that of the “genius” godfather; it is doubly valued by its possessor, for the interesting autographs it contains, and for the pleasant echoes of the past which it awakens.

On the occasion of a visit to the Portsmouth Dockyard, Mendelssohn’s father met with an accident, injuring his leg, and at first there seemed some cause for anxiety. This, however, was soon removed, and nothing but patience was required to insure complete recovery. Much music too must have been prescribed, for we find Mendelssohn and Moscheles constantly at the piano in the patient’s room. Amongst other works a collection of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fugues, which Mendelssohn had brought with him, was perused and studied with the greatest interest.

The note upon the next page accompanied a certain Fugue which Mendelssohn had copied out for Moscheles; he is supposed to hold the pen for some of the inmates of the Zoölogical Gardens, which he and Moscheles had visited in the afternoon.

On one occasion he sent the humorous invitation we reproduce.[21] On another occasion he insisted on having a regular card of invitation, which he filled in as given in our illustration.[22]

Notwithstanding the numerous calls upon his time, Mendelssohn found leisure to make a pianoforte duet arrangement of Moscheles’s Septet. Speaking of this in a subsequent letter, Moscheles says: “I have recopied your arrangement of my Septet, and treated several passages more freely than you, with your usual discretion, had done; at the same time I have taken your hint, and added twelve new bars in the first part and altered two towards the end.”

Of the many notes that passed between Great Portland Street and Chester Place, we transcribe a few.

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DEAR MRS. MOSCHELES,--