a hymn to Haydn's well-known tune. This he took for the subject of his voluntary, and varied and treated it for some time extempore in the happiest and most scientific manner. On the 16th he paid a third visit to Christ Church, Newgate Street, and it was possibly on that occasion that he played an extempore fantasia on Israel in Egypt which positively electrified those who heard it. He also again treated Haydn's Hymn, but this time as a fantasia and fugue, entirely distinct from his performance of four days [1]previous. On the 17th, at a concert of the Sacred Harmonic Society at Exeter Hall, mostly consisting of English Anthems, he played the organ twice; first, Bach's so-called 'St. Anne's' Fugue, with the great Prelude in E♭, and, secondly, an extempore introduction and variations on the Harmonious Blacksmith, ending with a fugue on the same [2]theme. After this he and his wife paid a visit to their cousins in Manchester, with the intention of going on to Dublin, but were deterred by the prospect of the crossing. During the London portion of this visit they resided with his wife's relations, the Beneckes, on Denmark Hill. He was very much in society, where he always enjoyed himself extremely, and where his wife was much admired; and amongst other incidents described in his letters to his [3]mother are two visits to Buckingham Palace, the first in the evening of June 20, and the second on the afternoon of July 9, which show how thoroughly the Queen and Prince Consort appreciated him. On the latter occasion he obtained Her Majesty's permission to dedicate the Scotch Symphony to [4]her. They left on July 10, and by the middle of the month were safe at Frankfort, in the midst of their relatives, 'well and happy,' and looking back on the past month as a 'delightful [5]journey.' August was devoted to a tour in Switzerland, he and Paul, with their wives. Montreux, Interlaken, the Oberland, the Furka, Meiringen, the Grimsel, are all mentioned. He walked, composed, and 'sketched furiously'; visited the old scenes, found the old landladies and old guides, always glad to see him; his health was perfect, his mood gay, and all was bright and happy, save when the spectre of a possible prolonged residence in [6]Berlin intruded its unwelcome form. On Sept. 3 they were at [7]Zürich, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th at the Rigi and [8]Lucerne. While at Zürich he visited the Blind Institution, spent two hours in examining the compositions of the pupils, praised and encouraged them, and finished by extemporising on the piano at great [9]length. On his return, he stayed for a gay fortnight at Frankfort. Hiller, Charles Halle, and their wives were there, and there was much music made, and a great open-air [10]fête at the Sandhof, with part-songs, tableaux vivants, etc., etc. A very characteristic and beautiful letter to Simrock, the publisher, urging him to accept some of Killer's compositions (an appeal promptly responded to by that excellent personage), dates from this [11]time. So well was the secret kept that Hiller never knew of it till the publication of the letter in 1863.
An anecdote of this period may be new to some of our readers. During the summer the King of Prussia had conferred on Mendelssohn, in company with Liszt, Meyerbeer, and Rossini, the great honour of the 'Ordre pour le [12]Merité,' and the order itself reached him at Frankfort. He set no store by such distinctions, nor perhaps was its Berlin origin likely to increase the value of this particular one. Shortly after it arrived he was taking a walk with a party of friends across the bridge at Offenbach. One of them (Mr. Speyer) stayed behind to pay the toll for the rest. 'Is not that,' said the tollkeeper, 'the Mr. Mendelssohn whose music we sing at our society?' 'It is.' 'Then, if you please, I should like to pay the toll for him myself.' On rejoining the party, Mr. Speyer told Mendelssohn what had happened. He was enormously pleased. 'Hm, said he, I like that better than the Order.'[13]
He took Leipzig on his way to Berlin, and conducted the opening concert of the Gewandhaus series on Oct. 2, amid the greatest enthusiasm of his old friends. A week later and he was in Berlin, and if anything could show how uncongenial the place and the prospect were, it is to be found in his letter to Hiller, and even in the Italian jeu d'esprit [14]to Hiller's wife. It is as if his very teeth were set on edge by everything he sees and hears there. Nor were matters more promising when he came to close quarters. A proposition was made to him by the minister, immediately after his arrival that he should act as superintendent of the music of the Protestant Church of Prussia, a post at once vague and vast, and unsuited to him. At the same time it was now evident that the plans for the organisation of the Academy had failed, and that there was no present hope of any building being erected for the music school. Under these circumstances, anxious more on his mother's account than on his own not to leave Berlin in disgrace, in fact ready to do anything which should keep him in connection with the place [15]where she was, he asked and obtained a long private interview with the King, in which His Majesty expressed his intention of forming a choir of about 30 first-rate singers, with a small picked orchestra, to be available for church music on Sundays and Festivals, and to form the nucleus of a large body for the execution of grand musical works. Of this, when formed, he desired Mendelssohn to take the command, and to write the music for it; meantime he was to be at liberty to live where he chose, and—his own stipulation—to receive half the salary previously granted. The King evidently had the
- ↑ On the authority of Miss Mounsey, Mr. E. J. Hopkins, and the Athenæum, June 18, 1842.
- ↑ Atlas Newspaper, June 18; Musical World, June 23.
- ↑ L. June 21, 1842; G. & M. 141.
- ↑ G. & M. 148.
- ↑ Ibid. 141.
- ↑ L. Aug. 18, 1842.
- ↑ L. Sept. 3, 1842.
- ↑ Diary of Mr. Ella. The above dates preclude the possibility of his having attended the Motart Festival at Salzburg on Sept 4 and 5. There is no trace of his having been invited, and the full report in the A.M.Z. (1842, 788, 806), while giving the names of several musicians present, does not allude to him.
- ↑ A.M.Z. 1842, 907.
- ↑ H. 187.
- ↑ Sept. 21, 1842; H. 189.
- ↑ A.M.Z. 1842, 834.
- ↑ Told to the writer by the son of Mr. Speyer.
- ↑ Oct. 8; H. 191.
- ↑ L. Nov. 23, 1842.
