HISTORY OF MENDELSSOHN'S ••ELIJAH.'
��annoyance at my repeated requests, or any other reason, prevent you from complying with my wish, do please send me, by return of post, a copy of our
- sketch ' of the oratorio, and tell me whether I am to
leave you in peace about the matter, so that I know where I am. Only I must set to work soon ; that you will understand."
After one or two more letters had passed between Mendelssohn and Klingemann, the latter returned to the composer the " sketch " they had made together in London in the autumn of 1837, and henceforth " Elijah," except in a casual way, drops out of their correspondence.
Mendelssohn then sought the aid of his intimate friend and the companion of his boyhood, the Rev. Julius Schubring, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, Dessau — the same friend who has recorded some delightful reminiscences of the composer in his youthful days,* and who rendered him valuable service in the preparation of the "book" of " St. " Paul." The interesting correspondence between Mendelssohn and Schubring on the subject of oratorio libretti has been published (in German), edited by Professor Dr. Julius Schubring, the son of Mendels- sohn's clerical friend. t
- " Daheim " (Leipzig) for 1866, No. 26. English translation in
Musical World, May 12 and ig, 1866.
f The full title of the book is : " Briefwechsel zwischen Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und Julius Schubring, zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Theorle des Oratoriums Herausgegeben von Prof Dr. Jul. Schubring, Direktor des Kath.irineums zu Liibeck. Leipzig : Verlag von Duncker und Humblot 1S92." ( 10 )
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