"That this Committee, deeply impressed by the unprecedented success of the oratorio of 'Elijah,' written for this Festival, do return their very cordial and grateful thanks to Dr. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy for a Composition in which the most consummate musical knowledge and the highest intellectual conceptions are displayed; a Composition which will soon be universally known, and not only add to the fame, already so great, of the Author, but tend to exalt the art which he professes, and on which his genius and judgment reflect so much honour."
HERR JOSEPH STAUDIGL
(1807-1861)
The original Elijah in Mendelssohn’s Oratorio.
CHAPTER V.
THE REVISED ORATORIO.
Mendelssohn, upon his return to Leipzig, was much exhausted after the severe strain of composing, and the exertion connected with the production of "Elijah." But, although he led "a vegetable existence, doing nothing the whole day but eat and sleep and take walks," he very soon began to work at the revision of his new oratorio. It has been shown that Mendelssohn had to write against time in order to complete his oratorio for the Birmingham Festival; and after—if not before, or during—the first performance he discovered numerous instances in which the work could be greatly improved. He told Mr. Bartholomew that he should make many alterations, and he did. In a letter to Klingemann, dated December 6, 1846, Mendelssohn says:—