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."