THE LIBRETTO.
these words. It can easily be done, and I think that I shall probably do it. I return you the sheets that you may have every necessary information, but pray send them back to me. You will see from the sheets that the outline of Part 11. as a whole is quite settled. It is only such lyrical passages (from which arias, duets, etc., could be composed) which I still require, especially towards the end. Therefore, pray get your large Concordance, look up the references, and again bestow upon me some of your time, that when I return three weeks hence at latest, let me find your answer. Continue your regard for your
To the foregoing, Schubring replied in a long letter, from which the following is an extract:—
[Schubring to Mendelssohn.]
"… I want to put down a few thoughts concerning the close of the oratorio. I see most distinctly that the oratorio can have no other than a New Testament ending; the Old Testament (Malachi) and also the New Testament demand this in terms of the most definite kind. Elijah must help to transform the old into the new covenant—that gives him his great historical importance. Let Handel in his Old Testament oratorios move within this narrow circle—personages like Saul, etc., have no further meaning; but with Elijah, with you, and in our day, it must be otherwise. Therefore, I think the
- ↑ "Briefwechsel," p. 222.
