London, June 1st
On the day that I received the news of Zelter’s death, I thought that I should have had a serious illness, and indeed during the whole of the ensuing week I could not shake off this feeling. My manifold engagements however have now diverted my thoughts, and brought me to myself, or rather out of myself. I am well again, and very busy.
First of all I must thank you, dear Father, for your kind letter. It is in a great measure already answered by my previous one, but I will now repeat why I decline sending any application to the committee.
In the first place, I quite agree with your former opinion, that this situation in the Academy is not desirable at the outset of my career; indeed I could only accept it for a certain time, and under particular conditions, and even then, solely to perform my previous promise. If I solicit it, I am bound to accept the place, as they choose to give it, and to comply with their conditions as to salary, duties, etc., though I do not as yet even know what these are.
In the second place, the reason they gave you why I should write, seems to me neither a true nor a straightforward one. They say they wish to be certain I will accept of it, and that on this account I must enroll myself among the candidates; but they offered it to me three years ago, and Lichtenstein said they did so to ascertain if I would take it, and begged me to give a distinct answer on this point; at that time I said yes, that I was willing to carry it on, along with Rungenhagen. I am not sure that I should think the same now; but as I said so then, I can no longer draw back, and must keep my word. It is not necessary to repeat my assent, for as I once gave it, so it must remain; still less can I do so when I should have to offer myself to them for the post they once offered to me. If they were disposed to adhere to their former offer, they would not require me to take a step which they took themselves three years ago; on the contrary, they would remember the assent I then gave, for they must know that I am incapable of breaking such a promise.
A confirmation of my former promise is therefore quite unnecessary, and if they intend to appoint another to the situation, my letter would not prevent their doing so. I must further refer to my letter from Paris, in which I told you that I wished to return to Berlin in the spring, as it was the only city in Germany with which I was still unacquainted.
This is my well-weighed purpose; I do not know how I shall get on in Berlin, or whether I shall be able to remain there,—that is, whether I shall be able to enjoy the same facilities for work, and progress, that are offered to me in other places. The only house that I know in Berlin is our own, and I feel certain I shall be quite happy there; but I must also be in a position to be actively employed, and this I shall discover when I return. I hope that all will come to pass as I wish, for of course the spot where you live must be always dearest to me; but till I know this to a certainty I do not wish to fetter myself by any situation.
I conclude, because I have a vast deal to do to enable me to set off after the next Philharmonic. I must publish several pieces before I go; I receive numbers of commissions on all sides, and some so gratifying that I exceedingly regret not being able to set to work at once.
Among others, I this morning got a note from a publisher, who wishes me to give him the score of two grand pieces of sacred music, for morning and evening service; you may imagine how much I am pleased with this proposal, and immediately on my arrival in the Leipziger Strasse I intend to begin them.
“The Hebrides” I mean to reserve for a time for myself, before arranging it as a duet; but my new rondo is in hand, and I must finish those everlasting “Lieder” for the piano, as well as various other arrangements, and probably the Concerto. I played it last Monday in the Philharmonic, and I think I never in my life had such success. The audience were crazy with delight, and declared it was my best work.
I am now going to Moscheles’ concert, to conduct there, and to play Mozart’s Concerto, in which I have inserted two long cadences for each of us.
Felix.
Footnotes
1
“Was in der Zeiten Bildersaal
Jemals ist trefflich gewesen,
Das wird immer einer einmal
Wieder auffrischen und lesen.”
2 Three pieces for the piano, composed in 1829 for the album of three young English ladies; subsequently published as Opus 16.
3 Felix Mendelssohn attended the Berlin University as a matriculated student for more than a year; a vast number of sheets written by him at this period, during the lectures, are still extant.
4 A relation of the family.
5 Mendelssohn’s instructor in the theory of music.
6 The name of the child.
7 The violin player, Edward Ritz, an intimate friend of Mendelssohn’s.
8 Formerly a singer in the Royal Theatre at Berlin.
9 Afterwards published under the name of “Overture to the Hebrides.”
10 A little sketch of the catafalque was enclosed in the letter.
11 This piece appeared afterwards as Opus 39.
12 Vernet lived in the Villa Medici.
13 This picture is in the Borghese Gallery.
14 On the 3rd of February, 1830, the bands of some regiments in Berlin gave Mendelssohn a serenade in honour of his birthday.
15 The Prussian Consul-General Bartholdy, who died in Rome, and was an uncle of Felix Mendelssohn’s.
16 Some disturbances had in the meantime broken out in the Ecclesiastical States, at Bologna.
17 The whole family had been in Switzerland in the year 1821.
18 In the ‘Titan’ of Jean Paul.
19 The overture to the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” was composed by Mendelssohn as early as the year 1826.
20 In the year 1821.
21 In the “Liederheft,” Opus 15 of his posthumous works.
22 Ludwig Berger, Mendelssohn’s instructor on the piano.
23 Mendelssohn jokingly alludes to a poem of Bürger,—Der Abt von St. Gallen.
24 Vide the letter from Rome of the 1st of February, 1831.
25 Felix Mendelssohn, during his stay in Munich, received a commission from the director of the theatre, to write an opera for Munich.
26 The lady who instructed Mendelssohn in the piano in Paris, when the family resided there for a time in 1816.
27 Mendelssohn had been thrown out of a cabriolet in London in 1829, and his knee seriously injured.
28 A “Kinder-Sinfonie,” composed by Mendelssohn in the year 1829, for a Christmas family fête.
29 A play upon Fanny Hensel’s house, in a court—No. 3, Leipziger Strasse.
30 At that time the residence of the St. Simoniens.
31 The death of his friend Edward Ritz, the violin player.
32 The cholera.
33 Felix Mendelssohn had an attack of cholera during the last weeks of his stay in Paris.
34 In reference to a situation in the Singacademie.
35 He had received the news of Zelter’s death.
The End