"Let me tell you that Mendelssohn's noble oratorio of 'Elijah' was even more than I had expected, and I had very great expectations. To see him conducting was worth anything. He seemed inspired, and might well be forgiven for something of self-reverence, though he looked all humility; and when he came down from his chair when it was all over, he seemed all unstrung as if he could no more. The interest that invests that man is quite inexpressible, and indeed I never felt, as I have done throughout this week's Festival, the greatness of a truly great composer; what are all the performers compared with him!"[51]
In a letter ("Leipzig, September 28, 1846"), written in English, to his Birmingham host, Mr. Joseph Moore, Mendelssohn said:—
"I have now returned home, found all my family as well as I might have wished, and, while I think over the events of this last journey, I cannot help addressing these few lines to you in order to express once more the most sincere and most heartfelt thanks for your very kind reception, and for the friendship you have again shown to me during my stay at your house. Indeed, the first performance of my 'Elijah' exceeded all the wishes which a composer may feel at such an important moment, and the evident goodwill of all the artists in the orchestra, as well as the kindness with which the audience received the work, will be as long as I live a source of grateful recollection. And yet it seems to me that I should not have enjoyed so great a treat as thoroughly and intensely as I did, if it had not been for your kindness and continued friendship, and for the comfortable home which you offered to me during those days of excitement. Our quiet morning and evening conversations with Mr. Ayrton and Mr. Webb are to my mind quite connected with the performances at the Town Hall, and form an important part of my Musical Festival at Birmingham; and while I should certainly never have assisted at one of them if it had not been for our very old acquaintance, and while I accordingly owe to you the whole of the treat which this first performance of 'Elijah' afforded me, I must at the same time thank you no less heartily and sincerely for the quiet and comfortable stay, and the friendly reception at your house, which enhanced all those pleasures so considerably. That your health may now be quite restored again after the fatigues you have undergone, and that we may soon meet again (either in your country, or once more in mine), and that you will continue the same kindness and friendship which you have now shown to me, and which I always met with from you since so many years, is the most earnest wish and hope of
"Yours very truly and gratefully,
"Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy."
In spite of Mendelssohn's protest, "Elijah" was immediately followed by two Italian "selections" and a Handel chorus! If the Committee tried their skill at providing an anti-climax, they admirably succeeded.
At the concluding concert, on Friday morning, the final chorus of Handel's "Zadok the Priest" was set down for performance. Almost at the last minute it was found that there was no music for the preceding Recitative printed in the word-book.[52] The Committee were in a fix, and then they suddenly thought that Mendelssohn might be able to help them in their hour of need. He was sitting in the Vice-President's gallery, enjoying the performance, when the chairman of the Orchestral Committee, the late Mr. J.F. Ledsam, went to him and stated their difficulty. Mendelssohn at once proceeded to the ante-room, and, in a few minutes, composed a recitative for tenor solo, with accompaniment for strings and two trumpets. The parts were expeditiously copied by the indefatigable Goodwin, and the whole recitative was performed prima vista by Mr. Lockey, a quintet of strings, and the two trumpet players. The audience were entirely ignorant of the circumstance of this impromptu composition, and doubtless thought that they were listening to music by Handel.
Through the kindness of the late Dr. W.A. Barrett and Messrs. Goodwin and Tabb, it is possible to give the score, together with Mendelssohn's felicitous postscript:—
