[20] "Briefwechsel," p. 222.
[21] The reference is to "St. Paul," in which, at Schubring's suggestion, Mendelssohn has set the words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" for four-part female chorus.
[22] "Elijah."
[23] The Rev. John Webb, M.A. (1776-1869), often referred to as "the friend of the charity"—i.e., the Birmingham General Hospital. He submitted to Mendelssohn the text of an oratorio, entitled "Rachel in Ramah," which is the "poem" referred to in this letter.
[24] In case the point of Mendelssohn's joke should be missed by anyone, it must be remembered that the contralto singer in "Elijah" takes the parts of both the Angel and Jezebel, the Queen.
[25] "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt." By H. Scott Holland and W.S. Rockstro. London: John Murray (1891). II., p. 243.
[26] "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 402.
[27] "Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt," I., 392.
[28] It was on this occasion that Mendelssohn omitted the two "redundant bars" in the Scherzo of Beethoven's C minor Symphony. See Sir George Grove's forthcoming work on "Beethoven," and the chapter on the C minor Symphony; also the "Dictionary of Music and Musicians," Vol. II., 288a.
[29] From "Letters of Mendelssohn to I. and C. Moscheles," by Felix Moscheles (Trübner), p. 274.