.jpg?w=1)
Details
MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed ('Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy') to the composer Jacob Rosenhain, Leipzig, 9 February 1846, including two brief musical citations, 4 pages, 8vo, on a bifolium (short tears at folds), autograph envelope; with a translation.
MENDELSSOHN REWRITES THE WORK OF ANOTHER COMPOSER. The letter is a masterpiece of tact: Mendelssohn had conducted a performance of Rosenhain's symphony [his first, in G minor] at 'one of our local series of concerts' [i.e. the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig], and thanks him profusely for confiding its first performance to them, 'and for the pleasure it has given us all'. The performance, however, did not go smoothly, owing to the difficulties presented by 'the parts you sent us and the various abbreviations you have made in the full score. The parts are themselves not very clear', with many jumps making them so hard to follow that 'any other orchestra than this one .... would not have played it at all'. After expanding on this question, Mendelssohn moves on to matters of musical detail: 'I have used your permission to alter a few notes in [the score] here and there ... In the 1st movement in the second part of the theme I have always had it played [Mendelssohn provides both the original and his replacement melody] on account of an involuntary harmony: then put the cello an octave higher in the 1st fortissimo and here and there altered a few notes which seemed to me to have been inserted by mistake ... In the Allegretto in the phrase after the G minor where the subject reappears, I left out the cello and the bassoon so that the oboe has the theme alone to the pizzicato of the violins. I think you would say the effect was good if you heard it; it sounds so delicate and charming'; Mendelssohn goes on to mention or propose further alterations to the restatement of the subject, and to the Scherzo, which he considers 'a little (perhaps two bars) too long', but reserves his most comprehensive recasting for the last movement, where 'there was too much work and fortissimo and one phrase ... did not seem to me to belong to the symphony at all'.
Jacob Rosenhain (1813-1894), initially had success as a pianist, and settled in Paris after 1837, where he also had some limited success as an opera composer; three symphonies are known. Mendelssohn had resumed his activities at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in August 1845, although his health was already in decline, to the extent that he was advised not to continue performing as a pianist after the first half of the season: his vigour and enthusiasm for Rosenhain's work in the middle of an over-taxing series of engagements, and within 18 months of his premature death, is remarkable. (3)
MENDELSSOHN REWRITES THE WORK OF ANOTHER COMPOSER. The letter is a masterpiece of tact: Mendelssohn had conducted a performance of Rosenhain's symphony [his first, in G minor] at 'one of our local series of concerts' [i.e. the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig], and thanks him profusely for confiding its first performance to them, 'and for the pleasure it has given us all'. The performance, however, did not go smoothly, owing to the difficulties presented by 'the parts you sent us and the various abbreviations you have made in the full score. The parts are themselves not very clear', with many jumps making them so hard to follow that 'any other orchestra than this one .... would not have played it at all'. After expanding on this question, Mendelssohn moves on to matters of musical detail: 'I have used your permission to alter a few notes in [the score] here and there ... In the 1st movement in the second part of the theme I have always had it played [Mendelssohn provides both the original and his replacement melody] on account of an involuntary harmony: then put the cello an octave higher in the 1st fortissimo and here and there altered a few notes which seemed to me to have been inserted by mistake ... In the Allegretto in the phrase after the G minor where the subject reappears, I left out the cello and the bassoon so that the oboe has the theme alone to the pizzicato of the violins. I think you would say the effect was good if you heard it; it sounds so delicate and charming'; Mendelssohn goes on to mention or propose further alterations to the restatement of the subject, and to the Scherzo, which he considers 'a little (perhaps two bars) too long', but reserves his most comprehensive recasting for the last movement, where 'there was too much work and fortissimo and one phrase ... did not seem to me to belong to the symphony at all'.
Jacob Rosenhain (1813-1894), initially had success as a pianist, and settled in Paris after 1837, where he also had some limited success as an opera composer; three symphonies are known. Mendelssohn had resumed his activities at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in August 1845, although his health was already in decline, to the extent that he was advised not to continue performing as a pianist after the first half of the season: his vigour and enthusiasm for Rosenhain's work in the middle of an over-taxing series of engagements, and within 18 months of his premature death, is remarkable. (3)
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.