Prodigiously gifted German Romantic composer (1809–1847) whose musical output represents virtually every form and genre of the era. ALS in German, signed "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy," three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 9.5, January 18, 1838. Handwritten letter to the president of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, in part (translated): "You will have heard that the Committee has asked me to go to Cologne and to conduct at this year's Music Festival during the weekend of Pentecost. And therefore you also know that, since receiving that letter, I think of you and your family with redoubled intensity, wishing to hear from you personally, longing to ask you several questions: this is the purpose of my letter now. Regarding your previous Music Festivals, I know that, long before the actual performance, you had involved yourself with the selection of the musical offerings and with other important matters, and that many of your quietly thought-out ideas benefitted the other people engaged in this undertaking. No doubt you prepared things in the same way this time also and, if I am not wrong in this supposition, I would like to ask for your opinion.
On the one hand, you are so well informed about musical matters, but you are also intimately acquainted with the circumstances there, so that your views are very important for me to learn. Through one of its members, the Committee has sent me some suggestions which I liked, but which seemed to me not progressive enough for a Music Festival that had previously distinguished itself by performing original Handel music on the organ. It seems to me that such a development is extremely important, even though it might not have been noticed at the time. In any case, my main interest points in that direction. I would very much like to see a Bach composition on the program (no matter how short it is)—some quite forceful double-chorale or a cantata with some lively chorales (I own several of these) and I feel if something like that is played on the first day, before the Handel Oratorio, which should be one of the shorter ones, the Festival could only profit from such a performance. But I think the Committee will be fearful of such a step. And yet, it seems to be so timely to at last use one of Bach's great chorales besides Handel's music, and I feel that it would be of considerable merit to set the pace with something like this. What is your opinion?
I would also like to know if Haydn's Four Seasons has been performed yet at one of the Music Festivals? The Creation? Handel's Saul? A symphony by Haydn and which one? Has Beethoven's Eroica been performed recently? You alone can answer these questions satisfactorily for me and, above all, give me your views about the approaching festival.
Thank God my wife and I are, so far, well. My wife expects her confinement any day now, and I pray that everything will go well at the moment I can hardly think of anything else. My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, whom you have met, have arrived from Frankfurt, and they will remain with us for the next month." In fine condition, with small mounting strips to edges and the seal clipped off.
Among the works featured at Cologne's 1838 Lower Rhenish Music Festival were Ries's 'Symphony in C minor,' Handel's 'Joshua,' Mozart's 'Prague' Symphony, and compositions by Luigi Cherubini and Ludwig van Beethoven. Ries, Beethoven's pupil, had died on January 13th, just five days before these lines were penned, and the performance of his symphony was considered a 'memorial offering.' Mendelssohn himself performed Handel's oratorio with the organ accompaniment intended by its composer. Haydn's oratorios, 'The Creation' and 'The Seasons' are still frequently performed, and Beethoven's Eroica symphony was offered at Dusseldorf's Lower Rhenish Festival that same summer. However, Mendelssohn's reference to Johann Sebastian Bach is, perhaps, of greatest importance, given his devotion to the master's music. It was Bach's Himmelfahrts-Kantate that was offered in July 1838, the first Bach cantata to be performed at a music festival.
Additionally includes:
- a scarce autograph musical quotation in pencil by Mendelssohn on an off-white 4.25 x 3.25 album page, identified along the bottom in another hand, "Napoli, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy," perhaps a recording of a piece that he heard played by street musicians while staying in Naples in April–June 1831. In fine condition, with scattered light foxing.
- a partial ALS signed "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy," one page, 7.5 x 2.25, no date, containing four lines from an untranslated handwritten letter sent to a gentleman in Bonn. In fine condition, with trimmed edges.
Accompanied by a carte-de-visite portrait of Mendelssohn, as well as an engraved portrait featuring his facsimile signature.
