Mendelssohn turned to me and shook my hand warmly. "I have been glad to meet you, and to hear you; for you sing like a musician. I shall not say good-bye. You will call again, I hope, before you leave Leipzig. Perhaps we may meet, too, in England. I am now writing something that I hope my English friends will like."
"What is it, sir?" I asked.
"It is an oratorio on the subject of Elijah," he replied.
"It is bound to be good," said Schumann enthusiastically. "Posterity will call you the man who never failed."
"Ah!" said Mendelssohn almost sadly, "you are all good and kind, but you praise me too much. Perhaps posterity will remember me for my little pieces rather than for my greater efforts. Perhaps it will remember me best, not as the master, but as the servant; for in my way I have tried very hard to glorify the great men who went before me—Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert—Bach most of all. Even if every note of my writing should perish, perhaps future generations will think kindly of me, remembering that it was I, the Jew by birth, who gave back to Christianity that imperishable setting of its tragedy and glory."
With these words in my ears I passed out into the pleasant streets of Mendelssohn's chosen city.
Printed by The Bushey Colour Press (André & Sleigh, Ltd.).
Bushey, Herts.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE Contemporary spellings have been retained evenwhen inconsistent. In a small number of cases, missing punctuation has been silently added. | |
| Lied ohne Wörte | Lied ohne Worte |
| grateful and simple | graceful and simple |