The History of Mendelssohn's Oratorio "Elijah" Part 13

[Footnote 59: It may be interesting to give the original English words (as sung at Birmingham) of this well-known air.

_Adagio._--"Hear ye, Israel; hear what the Lord speaketh: 'Ah! had'st thou heeded my commandments!' He to His people calleth; yet they regard not His voice, nor will they obey His call.

_Recit._--Yet to the righteous, saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel;

_Allegro._--I, I am he that comforteth, and ye are mine. Wake up, arise, Jerusalem! Say, who art thou that despairest, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker; who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the earth's foundations? Wake up, arise, Jerusalem!"]

[Footnote 60: "Lift thine eyes" was originally written as a duet for soprano and contralto, and in this form it was sung at Birmingham by the Misses Williams. Mendelssohn, according to the late Mr. Lazarus, was very desirous that there should be no break between the trio, "Lift thine eyes," and the succeeding chorus, "He, watching over Israel." His special direction at the end of the trio, "_Attacca_, _No._ 29," shows the importance he attached to the connecting of these two numbers--the trio _and_ the chorus of angels.]

"LEIPZIG, 8th _February_, 1847.

"Dear Sir,--I receive your letter of the 2nd at the moment when I send the Orchestra parts of the 1st Part of 'Elijah'

to Simrock, and the last chorus to Mr. Buxton, so I really answer by return of post.

"_Recit._ 'Now Cherith's brook,' bar 9. I do not quite like _your two_ slurs at the end; and as you do not like _my_ notation, what if we tried a third mode?

viz.:--[Music: neither shall the cruse of oil fail,]

"Now adopt which you like of the _three_. Bar 13, I prefer _yours_.

"I do not speak of bar 26 and bar 38 of No. 8, because Mr.

Buxton will have informed you that I am going to send _a new song_ for the Widow, and that therefore the whole No. 8 must be postponed till then. I hope it will follow soon after this letter, and then I will not teaze you any more about this 'Elijah.' Bars 83, 95, 114, 123 as _you_ propose. Bar 151, as you like both ways, I should prefer _mine_; bar 155, _yours_. Bar 157, I do not like the two B's and two C's on the words 'render to the'; could it not be:--[Music: What shall I render to the]

or, if you object to this, it must be at least--

[Music]

but I confess that I do _not like the quavers_, if they _can_ be got rid of. The following bars, and bar 161, &c., as _you_ have them.

"No. 9, Chorus, bar 10, I cannot approve of the twice F [sharp] in the Soprano, although I quite acknowledge the truth of your observation. But I propose instead:--

[Music: Bar 10. Blessed { are the men { are they]

"If you dislike this, pray propose another mode; but the soprano _cannot_ have the two F [sharps] while the tenor also has them.

"Bar 14 as _you_ have it. Instead of your and my bar 13, I propose:--

[Music: men who fear Him.]

"Bars 18, 19, 20, &c., as _you_ have. Bar 15 also. And 44, and 45, also.

"No. 19. Recit. For the end I prefer _by far_: 'The Lord our G.o.d alone can do these things.' But in reading over these words I wonder whether the word 'Gentiles' cannot be objected to? Can one say of Baal that he is an idol of the 'Gentiles'? Indeed, Jeremiah seems to use the word in that sense, but do we not use it exclusively in another sense? If not, so much better. Pray answer to this, and excuse the hasty lines.

"Always very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

"LEIPZIG, 8_th_ _February_, 1847.

"My dear Sir,--I send you with these lines the last Chorus of 'Elijah.' Now I have only the song which is to come in at the beginning of No. 8 [the Widow scene], and as soon as that will be finished I will not teaze you any more about alterations and all that, for you have now the whole work in hand. But pray do not forget to postpone the engraving of No. 8 until I send you that song. All the rest may be forthwith engraved.

"While I wrote the alterations in the Chorus No. 40 {41} (in my last letter) I forgot to write that there is also one in the accompaniment of that pa.s.sage. So please to correct bars 47, 48, and 49 (they are the last but two of the last page but one of that Chorus) thus:--

[Music]

"As for the story of the opera,[61] my friend Klingemann will tell you all about it, as I have written it at length to him, and I am so overloaded with Leipzig music, and with letters, and with all sorts of things, that you must excuse me if I refer you to him, and cannot repeat again what I wrote about that story.

"Always very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY.

"P.S.--I am now almost sure that I shall be able to leave here on the 6th of April, and to conduct in London my 'Elijah' on the 16th, &c. I shall then leave on the 30th (as you suggested) and go to Switzerland; and if Mr. Mitch.e.l.l _must_ have me and the 'Athalie' in July, I shall come back in July; if not I will stay at Vevay the whole summer, and compose away!"

[Footnote 61: The opera of "The Tempest," which Mr. Lumley, in his opera prospectus of 1847, announced as having been "expressly composed for Her Majesty's Theatre," by Mendelssohn.]

"LEIPZIG, 17 _February_, 1847.

"My dear Sir,--I write these lines merely to thank you for yours dated February 9th, and to tell you that I agree with all the different remarks you therein make about the wording of the translation (_including_ 'commandments' instead of 'commands,' &c.). And I hope you will have received the MS.

of Part II. soon after you wrote, for I sent it off on the 2nd, with the exception of the Final Chorus, which I sent a few days later. I daresay everything will now be safely in your and Mr. Buxton's hands, and now I may begin to think of something else, which indeed I have not been able to do all the time since, with this Oratorio, nearly but not entirely finished, weighing on my mind.

"Always very truly yours,

"FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY."

"LEIPZIG, _February_ 25, 1847.

"My dear Sir,--I prefer[62]--

[Music: Who hath believed our report] then: [Music: -vealed to]

"It _must_ be--

[Music: _be not afraid_, be] and _not_: [Music: be not a-]

which will not do for the quickness of the movement.

"Bar 89 is impossible as you propose, because on the _a_ [sharp symbol] and _g_ [sharp symbol], &c., _there must be no words_ p.r.o.nounced; they _must_ be _slurred_ notes, as in the German wording, and moreover they must be sung on a _good_ syllable (no "u," or "o," or, &c.). So I should propose:--

[Music: 89. I, the Lord, will strengthen thee![63]]

"And at any rate pray _let the notes be slurred_, because it is essential to the whole of the song. The same also when the pa.s.sage is repeated, bar 140.

"Bar 148 must be so--[Music: 148. for I thy]