Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/137

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THE REVISED ORATORIO.

��" Bar 14 as you have it. Instead of your and my bar 13, I propose : —

�� ��men who fear . . Him.

Bars 18, 19, 20, &c., as you have. Bar 15 also. And 44, and 45, also.

" No. ig. Recit. For the end I prefer by far : ' The Lord our God alone can do these things.' But in reading over these words I wonder whether the word ' Gentiles ' cannot be objected to? Can one say of Baal that he is an idol of the ' Gentiles '? Indeed, Jeremiah seems to use the word in that sense, but do we not use it exclusively in another sense? If not, so much better. Pray answer to this, and excuse the hasty lines.

" Always very truly yours,

  • • Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy."

��" Leipzig, Sth February, 1847.

" My dear Sir, — I send you with these lines the last Chorus of ' Elijah.' Now I have only the song which is to come in at the beginning of No. 8 [the Widow scene] , and as soon as that will be finished I will not teaze you any more about alterations and all that, for you have now the whole work in hand. But pray do not forget to postpone the engraving of No. 8 until I send you that song. All the rest may be forthwith engraved.

( "5 )

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