[30] At a Philharmonic rehearsal in 1844.
[31] The original autograph of this letter is now in the Library of the Royal College of Music. The "important work" referred to in the letter is, of course, the oratorio of "Elijah."
[32] With two exceptions, the letters from Mendelssohn to Bartholomew quoted in this "History" are now in my possession.
[33] I am greatly indebted to Frau Geheimrath Wach, of Leipzig (Mendelssohn's younger daughter), and her daughter, for their kindness in copying the long correspondence on "Elijah" from Bartholomew to Mendelssohn. These letters are still carefully treasured in the "27 large green volumes" in which Mendelssohn "preserved all the letters he received, and stuck them in with his own hands."
[34] This letter is reproduced in [fac-simile] at the end of this book.
[35] In order to make the musical examples in the following letters more intelligible to the general reader, and easier of reference to the printed score, I have added clefs and key signatures where Mendelssohn did not think it necessary to insert them when writing to Bartholomew. The figures in brackets refer to the present numbers in Novello's Edition of the Oratorio.
[36] This No. 5 was the original form of the tenor Recitative (now No. 3), "Ye people, rend your hearts." Before the Birmingham performance Mendelssohn re-wrote it, making it much shorter (10 bars instead of 17) and less elaborate, and in the form in which it is now sung. The concluding bars of the original are here appended, with the two versions of the words, to show the force of Mendelssohn's suggested alteration:—
The words of this Recit., as originally written by Bartholomew, were: "Ye people, rend your hearts, and not your garments, for your transgressions; even as Elijah hath sealed the heavens through the word of God.