27. Mendelssohn’s Congratulations to Moscheles, May 30, 1844. ([See page 245].)
Mendelssohn had been requested by the Handel Society to prepare an edition of the Oratorio “Israel in Egypt.” Later on, a difficulty arose in reference to the notation. Moscheles says, in a letter to Mendelssohn: “A meeting was convened to discuss the subject; and after a lively debate it was decided that the only way to put before the public that notation which you saw in the original manuscript, and which you wish to adopt, would be to publish a fac-simile of it. But that, to be sure, would be out of keeping with the three works already published by the Society.”
On the 8th of May Mendelssohn came to London, where he was as enthusiastically received as ever, whether he appeared before the public as a composer, a conductor, or a pianist. In Moscheles’s concert he played, with him and Thalberg, Bach’s Triple Concerto; in which his performance, and especially his improvisation of the Cadenza, is described as simply miraculous. On another occasion he played Moscheles’s “Hommage à Handel,” for two performers, with the composer; at the Philharmonic he conducted for the first time his “Walpurgisnacht.”
As on former occasions, he was a constant and welcome guest in Chester Place. In celebration of Moscheles’s birthday, he drew a second page of illustrations, referring to Moscheles’s works, as a sequel to the one he made in 1832. “The writing,” he says, “is again Emily’s; the poem, Klingemann’s; the design is again invented and the ink-blots omitted by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.” Amongst the various humorous allusions to Moscheles’s works, we find his song “Silent Love,” represented by a padlock closing the composer’s mouth. The “March of intellect, Miss-understanding,” allude to the “Harmonized Scales” written by Moscheles for his youngest daughter, Clara. The “Scène champêtre” illustrates the “Concerto Pastorale.” “Les Roses et les épines de la dédication” show us Moscheles presenting his Concerto to Mendelssohn, who is bowing and profusely thanking, quite unconscious of the difficult passage which is lying in wait for him behind his back. The following is the translation of the lines in the centre of the page:—
“On and still on, the journey went,
Yet has he kept us all in view—
Working in age with youth’s content,
In living—fresh, in loving—true.”[51]
Mendelssohn left London on the 10th of July; two months later he and Moscheles met in Frankfurt. Another drawing illustrates an amusing incident at a concert that Moscheles gave in that city. It is described in a letter from Moscheles’s daughter Emily:—[52]
“The room, long before the concert began, was crammed full, and still the people were coming. ‘What will the Frankfurters say when they find no seats?’ said Mendelssohn to Rosenhain. ‘Let us try to hire some chairs. Come along!’ Off they were, but it was no easy matter to get chairs; for, it being the time of the fair, there were none to spare in the crowded hotels. At last they found four dozen in a small inn. ‘These must be sent immediately,’ says Mendelssohn. ‘But who is to pay?’ inquires the landlord. ‘A great artist, Moscheles, who is giving a concert. It is all right; your money is safe.’ ‘Stop a minute!’ says the canny landlord; ‘those great artists often give concerts, pocket the money, and then disappear. I must have something down.’ Mendelssohn and Rosenhain empty their pockets, which happen to be poorly filled. The landlord, however, is satisfied, and they hurry off to the concert-room with an instalment of chairs inside and outside their cab, the rest following.
“Another little incident that pleased Mendelssohn mightily, was a certain C far down in the bass, which my father unexpectedly put in as he was playing his A flat Study. ‘That took me by surprise,’ he said; ‘it has a splendid effect, and ought not to be forgotten. I must put it down at once in Mrs. Moscheles’s album.’ He did so, drawing at the same time the cab, Rosenhain, himself, chairs, and all, but only half a horse. ‘I can’t draw that by heart,’ he said.”