Chapter II: Birmingham

Mendelssohn does not seem to have done anything with the _music_ of "Elijah" until 1845. The Committee of the Birmingham Musical Festival were then making arrangements for their approaching triennial music meeting, to be held in 1846.

The history of the Birmingham Musical Festival, which dates back to 1768, is full of interest. The artistic excellence of the Festival, and the enterprise which has also so long distinguished it, have earned for this great music-meeting a European reputation. Charity, in one of its best forms--the relief of the sick and suffering poor--has been richly sustained by the benefactions, amounting in the aggregate to the munificent sum of L132,000, which the Festivals have brought into the treasury of the Birmingham General Hospital.

Mendelssohn loved England and the English people. He was never happier than when visiting this country, and Birmingham had a warm corner in his heart. His receptions at the Festivals of 1837 and 1840, when he conducted respectively his "St. Paul" and the "Hymn of Praise," were most cordial, and highly gratifying to him. It was therefore quite natural that the Festival Committee should look to Mendelssohn for the composition of a work which, in all probability, would give distinction to their Festival; and, that they should, if possible, secure, as an extra attraction, the presence of the composer as Conductor. The previous chapter shows that "Elijah" had occupied Mendelssohn's mind for many years previous to 1846; therefore, it can scarcely be said that he composed the oratorio "expressly for Birmingham," as is commonly stated and generally supposed. But, considering the composer's early death (in 1847), it may reasonably be assumed that had it not been for the Birmingham Festival of 1846, Mendelssohn's oratorio of "Elijah" would never have been given to the world.

At a meeting of the Birmingham Festival Committee, held June 11, 1845, the following resolution was carried--doubtless _nem. con._:--

"That it appears to this Committee desirable that the services of Dr. Mendelssohn be obtained to act as Conductor at the next Festival; and that he be requested to consider whether he can provide a new oratorio, or other music, for the occasion."

This resolution was communicated to the composer by Mr. Joseph Moore (1766-1851), the indefatigable manager of the Festivals from 1802 till his death. Mr. Moore not only caused the noble Town Hall to be erected (in 1834), but spared no exertions to raise the Birmingham music-meetings to their present exalted position in the realm of music. Mr. Moore, who had early made the acquaintance of the Mendelssohn family in Berlin, became very intimate with Felix, who was always Mr. Moore's guest during his visits to Birmingham.

(1766-1851)

_Manager of the Birmingham Musical Festivals._]

Here is Mendelssohn's reply to the Committee's invitation:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"FRANKFORT, _July_ 24, 1845.

"My dear Sir,--Have many thanks for your very kind and
welcome letter, which I received a few days ago, and pray
tell the members of the Committee for the next Festival how
truly indebted I feel to them for the honour they have done
me in inviting me to come over to their meeting next year.

"I hope nothing shall prevent me to accept of so flattering
and honourable an invitation, and beg to thank the Committee
and yourself, my dear Sir, most sincerely for it.

"You know with how great a pleasure I have always visited
your country; the prospect of doing so again affords always
a true gratification to me, and your kind and hospitable
invitation greatly adds to the pleasure I may thus
anticipate. I have only to wish, then, that nothing may
occur to prevent me from accepting so much kindness; for it
is indeed a long time--more than a year--for settling any
plans. Pray let me know at what time you would wish to have
a positive and decided answer--I mean at what time you would
consider my answer as an engagement, which could not be
altered on any account; and let me also know what you mean
in saying that I am to assist you in selecting music,
conducting and directing as much as possible. As for
selecting, of course I shall be most happy to offer any
advice which may be asked; but do you mean that I should
have to conduct _all_ the performances, or the _greater_
part of them? This, I fear, would be a task above my powers;
but before I can say anything more on this subject, pray
explain me what _your_ meaning is, and name the period about
which I asked you before.

"Since some time I have begun an oratorio,[22] and hope I
shall be able to bring it out for the first time at your
Festival; but it is still a mere beginning, and I cannot yet
give you any promise as to my finishing it in time.

"I have written to Mr. Webb[23] some months ago, to tell him
that I had already begun to work on another subject, and
that I could not avail myself of his poem for that reason,
much as I regretted it. If my oratorio should be ready in
time (as I hope it will), there would be no occasion for any
other things of mine at the morning performances; but if I
should not be able to finish it, I have several other things
of mine which I could propose in its stead, either for the
morning or evening concerts.

"The 'Oedipus' (which is to be performed next month at
Potsdam) will scarcely do for any concert, I am afraid; but,
as I said, I have other things.

"I hear with much pleasure that you still go on with
improvements in your splendid organ; but if I shall play it
with pleasure, I must have a lighter touch, and broader keys
in the pedals than what I found there last year [? time]. I
am sure the pedals from C up to D (_two_ octaves and a note)
are quite enough, and it could then be contrived that the
keys have the breadth which feet and boots usually require.
And as for the heavy touch, I am sure that I admired your
organist very much who was able to play a Fugue on them. I
am afraid I would not have strength enough to do so, without
a very long previous practice. Perhaps you may speak to Mr.
Hill [the builder of the organ] of these observations, and
hear what he says to them....

"Believe me always, very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

[Footnote 22: "Elijah."]

[Footnote 23: The Rev. John Webb, M.A. (1776-1869), often referred to as "the friend of the charity"--_i.e._, the Birmingham General Hospital. He submitted to Mendelssohn the text of an oratorio, entitled "Rachel in Ramah," which is the "poem" referred to in this letter.]

On August 26 (exactly a year before "Elijah" was first performed) the Orchestral Committee resolved to recommend to the Musical Committee "That Dr. Mendelssohn Bartholdy be requested to compose a performance (_sic_) for the Wednesday morning, and to conduct all the morning performances." The Musical Committee at once adopted this recommendation, and communicated its purport to Mendelssohn, who replied as follows:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _October_ 19, 1845.

"My dear Sir,--I received your first letter after an absence
of a few weeks, and should have answered it long ago, for
you know with how much pleasure I read it, and how truly
indebted I felt to you and the Committee for continuing your
very kind feeling towards me! But I was uncertain which
answer I had to give to some of the most important points,
and this uncertainty is still the same; yet I must write, as
I receive to-day your second letter, which shows your wish
to have an immediate answer.

"The principal point about which I am uncertain is whether I
shall be able to have my new oratorio ready in time for your
Festival. There would have been no doubt of it, had I been
able to continue my work quietly at Frankfort, as I began
it. But now there are so many businesses here, at Dresden,
and at Berlin, which took up all my leisure time during the
last months, that I have not been able to go on with it. If
the businesses continue as they have begun (which, however,
I hope they will not), I _shall not_ be able to finish my
oratorio in time. If they do _not_ continue, I _shall_
finish it in time. But during this uncertainty I am not able
to make an engagement as to the first performance of this
work.

"The second point is that I am afraid I shall not be strong
enough to go through the office of being sole conductor of
the morning performances at such a Festival as yours is. In
former years I had only to conduct my compositions, not the
other pieces of your programme; and yet I recollect how
excited and fatigued I always felt after the Festival was
over. Therefore, I hesitate to accept of the honour which
you intend doing me, and which I fear I should not be able
to go through, although I sincerely wished it.

"The question now is whether you would want me yet (to come
to the Festival without having a certainty as to these two
points, and even with the possibility of my answering them
at last in the negative), or whether you consider them as so
essential that the whole idea of my coming over (much as I
would regret it) must be given up with them.

"I beg you will give me an answer to this question as soon
as you conveniently can. If the first should be the case
(and I hope you fully know how glad I should be to see you
again, and to come), I would set at work as hard as I could
whenever any leisure is left me to finish my new piece; and
at any rate I should propose several others (although not so
extensive ones) for the morning performances. But if the
second should be the case, I sincerely hope and trust you
would be convinced of my deep regret, and would allow me
another year to enjoy of an honour and a treat which I
should have been obliged to give up so much against my
wishes this time. Be it as it may, I beg you will present my
best and most sincere thanks to the Committee, and I beg you
will think of me, my dear Sir, as of one who shall _always_
feel true gratitude and thankfulness for all the kindness
and friendship you have shown to him!...

"Very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

Mendelssohn then set vigorously to work at the music. Miss Dolby, afterwards Madame Sainton-Dolby, made her first appearance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Concerts, for which she had been engaged by Mendelssohn, on October 25, 1845; and she records the progress of the new oratorio in the following anecdote. "We were dining," she says, "at Dr. Haertel's, and were all seated at the table. The guests included Dr. and Madame Schumann; but Mendelssohn, who was also invited, came late. A vacant place had been left for him by my side. He arrived after the soup had been served, and excused himself by saying he had been very busy with his oratorio; and then turning to me he said, 'I have sketched the bass part, and now for the contralto.' 'Oh!' I exclaimed, 'do tell me what that will be like, because I am specially interested in that part.' 'Never fear,' he answered, 'it will suit you very well, for it is a true woman's part--half an angel, half a devil.' I did not know whether to take that as a compliment, but we had a good laugh over it."[24]

[Footnote 24: In case the point of Mendelssohn's joke should be missed by anyone, it must be remembered that the contralto singer in "Elijah" takes the parts of both the Angel and Jezebel, the Queen.]

Shortly afterwards Jenny Lind also made her first appearance at the Gewandhaus; and it may here be mentioned that there is every reason to suppose that Mendelssohn wrote the soprano part of his "Elijah" expressly for the "Swedish Nightingale." It is stated in the "Memoir" of Jenny Lind that amongst the beautiful notes of her splendid voice, "the upper F sharp possessed an irresistible charm" for Mendelssohn. He often spoke of it with admiration, and fully remembered that "wonderful F sharp," when he was writing the soprano part of his "Elijah." "He used it with striking effect, as the initial note of the first phrase in 'Hear ye, Israel,' and in many other passages, in which it rings like a trumpet-call throughout the air."[25] This will account for Mendelssohn's having set "Hear ye, Israel," in the keys of B minor and B major--the dominant note of which, and the predominating note of the air, is the said "F sharp."

[Footnote 25: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt." By H. Scott Holland and W.S. Rockstro. London: John Murray (1891). II., p. 243.]

Mendelssohn definitely accepted the invitation of the Birmingham Committee in the following letter, which, however, still left the new oratorio an "open question":--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _December_ 11, 1845.

"My dear Sir,--Many thanks for your very kind letter. I have
now made up my mind to come to Birmingham in August; but I
wish to conduct only my own music, as in former years, and
have nothing to do with the other parts of the programme. I
cannot yet give any promise as to my new oratorio; but in a
month or two I shall be able to tell you for certain
whether, and when, I can send it. If I cannot, I would try
to propose something else of my new music. You want
something, whether new or old, for the Friday: would the
'Walpurgisnacht' do for it? I conducted it only once in
England, at the last Philharmonic, 1844, and they seemed to
like it then. Or would the music to the 'Midsummer Night's
Dream' be the thing? My Symphony in A minor, about which you
questioned me in one of your former letters, lasts about
thirty-five to forty minutes.

"And if you can have Jenny Lind for the Festival, by all
means have her, for we have now no singer on the Continent
who is to be compared to her. But although she has no fixed
engagement, neither at Berlin nor elsewhere, I fear it will
be difficult to make her come, as they are all mad about
her, and force her into more engagements than she can
accept. And Pischek would also be the man, I am sure! But he
is known already in England; and if you get Jenny Lind, it
will be such a novelty at the same time, and will give a new
character to the Festival. Now, before all, I hope that
these lines may find you in better health, that your
indisposition will be forgotten long before they arrive, and
that I may meet you again in perfect strength and happiness.

"Yours very truly,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

The Committee at once acted upon Mendelssohn's suggestion that Jenny Lind should be invited to sing; and at their meeting on December 26 resolved--"That Mr. Moore be requested to use his endeavours to engage Jenny Lind, and impress upon Mendelssohn the importance of completing his new oratorio." Moore evidently asked Mendelssohn to be the negotiator between the Committee and Jenny Lind, judging from the following letter:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _January_ 15, 1846.

"My dear Sir,--Yesterday I received your letter of the 7th,
and answer it as early as I can. My oratorio is in progress,
and becomes every day more developed; but whether I shall be
able to finish it in time for your preparations is another
question, which I shall not be able to answer positively
before _two months_ are elapsed. It will then be the middle
of March, more than five months before the period of your
Festival, and if I should fail in my efforts of ending my
work in time (which I fully hope and trust to do), there
will be ample time for you to make it up by something else.
Your question about Jenny Lind is very important to the
success of the Festival, as I consider her, without
hesitation, as the first singer of the day, and perhaps of
many days to come. But I am not able to undertake the
negotiation which your chairman would entrust me with, as I
know how much she is surrounded with engagements of all
sorts, and how little likely it is that I could get anything
like a positive answer from her, unless a formal application
from the Committee had previously been made to her. It is by
no means certain that such an application would be
successful, but at any rate I think it the only way, if
there is one. When you formally wrote to me about the same
subject, I was at Berlin, and spoke to her about it, but
then she said she should not go to England, she had declined
it already twice, it was quite impossible, etc., etc.; so
that I am sure that she will not come to _London_ at least
(for I did not make any direct enquiries about Birmingham
and the Festival at that time). When you have determined
what you will do, and if you have written, or if another
(perhaps at Berlin) has negotiated for you, pray let me know
of it, and I could then, perhaps, be of some use in removing
some difficulties which might still arise, and in persuading
her to accept the Festival, which I should be most happy to
do. But at present, I am afraid, by beginning to talk or
correspond with Jenny Lind about this subject, I would do
your cause no good, and I therefore beg to be excused.

"Truly and sincerely yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

Nothing daunted, the Committee at their next meeting (January 30, 1846) instructed Moore to ask Moscheles (who had been appointed Conductor-in-chief of the Festival) to use his influence with Jenny Lind. Although a good deal of pressure seems to have been brought to bear upon her to visit Birmingham for the purpose of singing in the first performance of "Elijah," it was of no avail. The reason of Jenny Lind's inability to come to England at that time may be traced to her fear of Mr. Alfred Bunn, the opera manager. Those who wish to follow the circumstances of that unpleasant episode in the great singer's career will find the story fully told in the chapter headed "The Bunn Contract," in Messrs. Holland and Rockstro's "Memoir of Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," Vol. I., pp. 228 and 290; also Vol. II., pp. 39 and 198.

Meanwhile, the work of composition made slow progress, and the fate of the oratorio was decidedly precarious. On April 20, four months before the Festival, Mendelssohn wrote to Moscheles suggesting that "Athalie" should be an alternative to "Elijah." To Hauser, of Vienna, he wrote: "I sit, over both my ears, in my 'Elijah,' and if it only turns out half as good as I often think it will, I shall be glad indeed! The first part will be quite finished within the next few days, and a goodly portion of the second part also. I like nothing more than to spend the whole day in writing the notes down, and I often come so late to dinner that the children come to my room to fetch me, and drag me out by main force."[26]

[Footnote 26: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 402.]

Writing to Moscheles, Mendelssohn says: "I absolutely require a first-rate high baritone. Can such an one be found?" Again: "If, after all, there is no baritone to be got, the whole thing falls to the ground." To Jenny Lind: "Sometimes, in my room, I have jumped up to the ceiling when it seemed to promise so very well. (Indeed, I shall be but too glad if it turns out only half as good as it now appears to me.) But I am getting a little confused, through writing down, during the last few weeks, the immense number of notes that I previously had in my head, and working them now and then upon the paper into a piece, though not quite in the proper order, one after another."[27] To Devrient: "I am working day and night at my new oratorio to send to England, otherwise it will not be in time." To his sister Fanny: "I am more driven than ever, as an immense piece of 'Elijah' is not yet copied, whilst the first part is already in rehearsal in England.... The first thing to-morrow morning I shall shut myself up, and decline to budge till 'Elijah' is finished, which may not be for another three weeks, and that I also swear by my beard."

[Footnote 27: "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 392.]

The anxiety of the Birmingham Committee was somewhat relieved by the receipt of the following letter from the composer:--

[TO JOSEPH MOORE, ESQ.]

[_Written in English._]

"LEIPZIG, _May_ 8, 1846.

"My dear Sir,--I write these lines to inform you that I
intend to send the whole of the first part of my oratorio to
Mr. Moscheles in the course of the next fortnight. It is by
far the greater part of the two; the choruses from the
second part will be in England towards the beginning of
July, and the rest of the whole in the middle of that month.
All this, _Deo volente_.

"I wish Mr. Bartholomew, in London, who has translated
several other vocal pieces of mine, would undertake also
this; and I wish he might take advice of my friend, Mr.
Klingemann, who understands both languages thoroughly, and
who understands my music better than both languages.

"The most essential condition for my oratorio is a most
excellent barytone singer--a man like Pischek, or Staudigl,
or Oberhofer. Will you have such a m...."

[Here the letter is torn away, and concluded in a lady's
handwriting, thus:]

"Believe me always yours truly,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

The summer of 1846 was very hot, and Mendelssohn often became exhausted over the close application which he gave to his work. "I have lived the life of a marmot," he writes, but he kept his time. The complete Part I. was despatched from Leipzig on May 23. He was then interrupted in the process of composition for three weeks by having to conduct the Lower Rhine Musical Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle (May 31 to June 2);[28] then a Soiree at Duesseldorf; after that the production of his "Lauda Sion," at Liege, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 11; and finally a great Choral Festival at Cologne--"an enormous 'Saengerfest,'" he writes, of "nearly 2,000 men, which I have also to direct." For this Mendelssohn had composed a Festgesang on Schiller's "An die Kuenstler" ("To the Sons of Art"), Op. 68.

[Footnote 28: It was on this occasion that Mendelssohn omitted the two "redundant bars" in the _Scherzo_ of Beethoven's C minor Symphony. See Sir George Grove's forthcoming work on "Beethoven," and the chapter on the C minor Symphony; also the "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," Vol. II., 288_a_.]

On his return to Leipzig, Mendelssohn heard that some members of the Philharmonic band, who had been discourteous to him during his previous visit to London, were not to be engaged for the Birmingham Festival. He at once wrote off to Moscheles in the following emphatic terms:--

[MENDELSSOHN TO MOSCHELES.]

"LEIPZIG, _June_ 26, 1846.[29]

"My dear Friend,--The occasion of these lines is a passage
in Mr. Moore's letter, in which he says: 'Nearly the whole
of the Philharmonic band are engaged [for Birmingham]; a few
only are left out who made themselves unpleasant when you
were there.'[30]

"Now, I strongly object to this restriction; and as I fancy
you can exercise your authority in the matter, I address my
protest to you, and beg you to communicate it to Mr. Moore.
There is nothing I hate more than the reviving of bygone
disputes; it is bad enough that they should have occurred.
This one of the Philharmonic is, as far as I am concerned,
dead and buried, and must on no account have any influence
on the selection made for the Birmingham Festival. If men
are to be rejected because they are incompetent, that is not
my business and I have nothing to say in the matter; but if
it is because 'they made themselves unpleasant when I was
there,' I consider that an injustice, against which I
protest. Any further disturbance on the part of these
gentlemen, I am sure, is not to be feared. That at least is
my belief, shared probably by all concerned. So you will
sincerely oblige me by having the selection made exactly as
if I were not coming to England. The only consideration that
can be shown me is not to take me into consideration at all.
You will do me a favour by putting this very strongly to Mr.
Moore, and requesting him to let the matter drop. If my
wishes are to be complied with, the incident must herewith
end. Should it be otherwise, I shall write a dozen letters
in protest against what I should consider a spirit of
vindictiveness. Excuse all this.--Ever yours,

"FELIX."

[Footnote 29: From "Letters of Mendelssohn to I. and C. Moscheles," by Felix Moscheles (Truebner), p. 274.]

[Footnote 30: At a Philharmonic rehearsal in 1844.]

Two months before the performance Mendelssohn reports that "an immense piece of 'Elijah' is not yet copied"; and he writes to Moscheles to the effect that as the touch of the Birmingham organ was so very heavy the last time he played, he would not play one of his Sonatas at the Festival until he had first tried the organ; also that when "St. Paul" was given in 1837, it was followed by a selection from Handel's Oratorios. "I much disapproved of this," he says, "and trust it is not to be the case this time." He further adds that "Elijah" will take two hours in performance; and that if there must be something added to occupy the orthodox three hours, it should be a short complete work: "but, however this may be," he says, "don't let us have a ragout afterwards."

Meanwhile the Birmingham Committee were completing their arrangements. The fee paid to Mendelssohn for his attendance at the Festival was 200 guineas. Madame Caradori-Allan (the soprano) received a similar amount. Other fees were:--Staudigl (the original _Elijah_), 150 guineas; John Braham (then sixty-eight years old), for one morning performance ("The Messiah"), L50; Dr. Gauntlett, as solo organist and organist in "Elijah," L30. Cooke and Willy, violinists, (leaders), L40 and L20 respectively; Dando, violinist, L11; thirty-eight chorus singers from London, L6 each, instead of L7, as at the previous Festival, the difference being a free railway ticket.

The Committee had some financial difficulty with the "Italian Party," which seemed to be an indispensable and expensive feature of these Festivals. Mario, when treating for himself, doubled his former terms! Mr. Beale, the agent of the "Italian Party," asked for Grisi, 380 guineas; Mario, 320; Lablache, 75; and Benedict, 50; making a total of 825 guineas for the three singers and their accompanist. This amount alarmed the Committee, who resolved: "That these exorbitant terms be rejected, and that, the services of Benedict not being required, an offer of L700 be made for the other three." The fee of L100 paid to Moscheles as Conductor-in-chief of the Festival, and that of L210 to Mendelssohn, cannot be considered exorbitant, when compared with the amounts paid to the solo vocalists.

The choral rehearsals were conducted by Mr. James Stimpson, the chorus-master of the Festival. It was not until after the middle of June, only two months before the Festival, that Mr. Stimpson received the first instalment of the chorus parts. Although these were printed (all the rest of the oratorio was sung and played from MS. copies), the deciphering of them was no easy matter, owing to the many alterations--black, red, and blue ink being freely used to indicate the alterations and re-alterations in the parts. Mr. John Bragg, who sang tenor in the chorus in 1846 and at several Festivals since, relates the following incident in connection with the first rehearsal of "Thanks be to God." Mr. Bragg says: "At the passage beginning 'But the Lord,' which was an entirely new one to choralists, Mr. Stimpson rapped his desk and asked for the separate voice parts one after another. He then compared them with his own MS. copy of the score, and, being evidently puzzled, said 'Well, gentlemen, the voice parts are right, and we must sing it so.' And _so it was sung_," adds the veteran Mr. Bragg, "then and ever after; and one of the greatest gems in the work shone out for the first time. Great was the enthusiasm of the chorus when they had completed the passage and realised the full effect of this masterly modulation."

Mr. Stimpson had a most arduous task in preparing the choruses in the limited time at his disposal. As late as August 3, twenty-three days before the performance, the arrival of the first two choruses of Part II. was reported, and the last chorus was not received till nine days before the Festival! But the Birmingham singers were on their mettle. They enjoyed rehearsing the work, and they worthily maintained those splendid choral traditions which have so eminently distinguished the Birmingham Musical Festival.