Auction Date:2010 Jul 14 @ 22:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Prodigiously gifted German composer (1809–1847), who, during the course of a career that began in childhood, produced a remarkable body of work that occupies a place of central importance in the Romantic repertoire. His musical output represents virtually every form and genre of the era, ranging from piano and chamber music to symphonies and other orchestral music to such large-scale choral masterpieces as the oratorios ‘Elijah’ and ‘St. Paul.’ Significant ALS in German, one page, 5.5 x 9.25, March 12, 1846. Mendelssohn writes an unknown recipient. In part (translated): “What should I do, since I never received your note yesterday…Give up a principle that I had expressed full of magnanimity and fear of no man? Never! But to take my song and saddle myself with the appearance of base self-interest? Even less than never! ‘This idea appeared to the doubter as best in the end.’ I wrote another little song to go with the Schiller and now ask that you accept both in fond remembrance. But the little New Year’s song must not be announced yet. If society is still in existence by New Year’s Eve (which is doubtful), then let it be sung that evening; and if we like it (which is also doubtful), then let it always occur at New Year’s but at no other time. Now if the other composers do the same, as I hope they will, then keep your songs, and I my principle, intact.” Light folds, large block of mild toning from past display, and a few areas of archival repair on the back, otherwise fine condition.
Mendelssohn was plagued with ill health at the time of this letter, the result of a series of strokes, stress from nervousness, and overwork that taxed his physical resources. Such dedication is palpable here as the composer emphatically makes his beliefs known. A lifetime of work devoted solely to the highest principles of music filled Mendelssohn’s ambitions, for it was through his efforts that composers such as George Frederick Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach were rediscovered by the masses. Mendelssohn’s master choral work, ‘Elijah,’ on which he was working when he sent this letter, are among his own greatest contributions and reflect his inspired ways.
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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