Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/17

MENDELSSOHN in thickness " anything he had attempted. From letters written at this period we learn that Felix s estimate of the French school of music was very far from a flattering one ; but he formed some friendships in Paris, which were pleasantly renewed on later occasions. He returned to Berlin with his father in May 1825, taking leave of his Parisian friends on the 19th of the month, and interrupting his journey at Weimar for the purpose of paying a second visit to Goethe, to whom he dedicated his quartett in B minor. On reaching home he must have fallen to work with greater zeal than ever ; for on the 23d of July in this same year he completed his pianoforte capriccio in F sharp minor (Op. 5), and on the 10th of August an opera, in two acts, called Die Hochzeit des Camafho, a work of considerable importance, concerning which we shall presently have to speak more particularly. No ordinary boy could have escaped uninjured from the snares attendant upon such a life as that which Mendelssohn now lived. Notwithstanding his overwhelm ing passion for music, his general education had been so well cared for that he was able to hold his own, in the society of his seniors, with the easy grace of an accomplished man of the world. He was already recognized as a lead ing spirit by the artists with whom he associated, and these artists were men of acknowledged talent and position. The temptations to egoism by which he was surrounded would have rendered most clever students intolerable. But the natural amiability of his disposition, and the healthy influence of his happy home-life, counteracted all tendencies towards inordinate self-assertion ; and he is described by all who knew him at this period as the most charming boy imaginable. Even Zelter, though by nature no less repressive than Cherubini, was not ashamed to show that he was proud of him ; and Moscheles, whose name was already famous, met him from the first on equal terms. Soon after his return from Paris, Abraham Mendelssohn removed from his mother s residence to No. 3 Leipziger Strasse, a roomy, old-fashioned house, containing an excellent music-room, and in the grounds adjoining a " Gartenhaus " capable of accommodating several hundred persons at the Sunday performances. 1 In the autumn of the following year this " garden-house " witnessed a memorable private performance of the work by means of which the greatness of Mendelssohn s genius was first revealed to the outer world the overture to Shakespeare s Midsummer Night s Dream. The finished score of this famous composition is dated "Berlin, August 6, 1826,"- that is to say, three days after its author had attained the age of seventeen years and a half. Yet we may safely assert that in no later work does he exhibit more originality of thought, more freshness of conception, or more perfect mastery over the details of technical construction, than in this delightful inspiration, which, though now nearly sixty years old, still holds its place at the head of the most brilliant achievements of our modern schools. The over ture was first publicly performed at Stettin, in February 1827, under the direction of the young composer, who with this bright patent of artistic nobility to support his claim, was at once accepted as the leader of a new and highly characteristic manifestation of the spirit of modern progress. Henceforth therefore we must speak of him, not as a student, but as a mature and experienced artist. Meanwhile Camacho s Wedding had been submitted to Herr General-Musik-Director Spontini, with a view to its production at the opera. The libretto, founded upon an episode in the history of Don Quixote, was written by Klingemann, and Mendelssohn threw himself into the spirit 1 After Mendelssohn s death this house was sold to the Prussian Government; and the " Herreuhaus " now stands on the site of the garden-house. of the romance with a keen perception of its peculiar humour. The work was put into rehearsal soon after the composer s return from Stettin, produced on April 29, 1827, and received with great apparent enthusiasm; but, for some reason which it is now impossible to ascertain, a cabal was formed against it, and it never reached a second performance. The critics abused it mercilessly ; yet it exhibits merits of a very high order. The solemn passage for the trombones, which heralds the first appearance of the knight of La Mancha, is conceived in a spirit of reverent appreciation of the idea of Cervantes, which would have done honour to a composer of lifelong experience. Even the critics suborned to condemn the work could not refrain from expressing their admiration of this ; but it had been decreed that the opera should not live and it did not. Mendelssohn was excessively annoyed at this injustice, and some time elapsed before his mind recovered its usual bright tone ; but he continued to work diligently for the cause of art. Among other serious undertakings, he formed a choir for the study of the great choral works of Sebastian Bach, then entirely unknown to the public ; and, in spite of Zelter s determined opposition, he suc ceeded, in 1829, in inducing the Berlin Singakademie to give a public performance of the Passion according to Xt Matthew, under his direction, with a chorus of between three and four hundred voices. The scheme succeeded beyond his warmest hopes, and proved the means of restoring to the world great compositions with which wo are all now familiar, but which, at that time, had never been heard since the death of Bach. But the obstructive party were grievously offended ; and at this period Mendelssohn was far from popular among the musicians of Berlin. In April 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to London. His reception was most enthusiastic. He made his first appearance before an English audience at one of the Philharmonic Society s concerts then held in the Argyll Rooms on the 25th of May, conducting his symphony in C minor from the pianoforte, to which he was led by John Cramer. On the 30th he played Weber s Concertstiick, from memory, a proceeding at that time extremely unusual. At a concert given by Drouet, on the 24th of June, he played Beethoven s pianoforte concerto in E flat, which had never before been heard in the country ; and the overture to A Midsummer Night s Dream was also, for the first time, presented to a London audience. On returning home from the concert, Mr Attwood, then organist of St Paul s Cathedral, left the score of the overture in a hackney coach, whereupon Mendelssohn wrote out another, from memory, without an error. At another concert he played, with Moscheles, his still un published concerto in E, for two pianofortes and orchestra. After the close of the London season he started with Klingemann on a tour through Scotland, where he was inspired with the first idea of his overture to The Isles of Fingal, returning to Berlin at the end of November. Except for an accident to his knee, which lamed him for some considerable time, his visit was a highly successful one, and laid the foundation of many firm friendships and many prosperous negotiations in the time to come. The visit to England formed in reality the first division only of a great scheme of travel which his father wished him to extend to all the most important art centres in Europe. After refusing the offer of a professorship at Berlin, he started again, in May 1830, for Italy, pausing on his way at Weimar, where he spent a memorable fort night with Goethe, and reaching Rome, after many pleasant interruptions, on November 1. No possible form of excitement ever prevented him from devoting a certain

time every day to composition ; but he lost no opportunity