MENDELSSOHN, Felix 1809-1847

Elijah, an Oratorio. The Words, selected from the Old Testament, The English Version by W. Bartholomew, Esqr. ... Op. 70. Piano-forte arrangement by the Author. Ent. Sta. Hall. Price, 36/ Separate Voice parts. / 24. [Piano-vocal score]

London ... Bonn: Ewer & Co. Newgate Strt. ... N. Simrock, [1847].

Large folio. Full maroon cloth with dark red leather title label gilt to spine. 1f. (recto blank, verso frontispiece), 1f. (recto engraved title within decorative border, verso blank), 1f. (recto index, verso blank), [iv] (typeset libretto), 279, [i] (blank) pp. Text in English. Music engraved. Small format single-page list of errata bound in following title.

The fine frontispiece portrait engraving of the composer is by A.H. Payne and W.C. Wrankmore after Hildebrand.

Occasional annotations in pencil including instrument names and tempo indications.

Binding slightly worn, rubbed, and bumped. Light uniform browning; frontispiece slightly foxed and creased at lower outer corner; foxing, mainly to margins; minor soiling to blank margins of title; occasional minor soiling to lower outer corners.

First English edition, first issue, with "Newgate Strt." address, published in the same year as the first German edition published by Simrock in Bonn. MWV A25. Catalogue of the Mendelssohn Papers in the Bodleian Library III, 362. Hoboken 10, 253.

Elijah, to a libretto by J. Schubring, was first performed in Birmingham, England on 26 August 1846; Schubring also collaborated with Mendelssohn on his earlier oratorio, St. Paul.

"Mendelssohn was not the only 19th-century composer to revive the oratorio, but his two completed works, St Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846), were the only representatives of his time to achieve lasting popularity. ... With few exceptions, Mendelssohn's other sacred works lie largely in the shadow of St Paul and Elijah. ...

One of the most gifted and versatile prodigies, Mendelssohn stood at the forefront of German music during the 1830s and 40s, as conductor, pianist, organist and, above all, composer. His musical style, fully developed before he was 20, drew upon a variety of influences, including the complex chromatic counterpoint of Bach, the formal clarity and gracefulness of Mozart and the dramatic power of Beethoven and Weber.

Mendelssohn’s emergence into the first rank of 19th-century German composers coincided with efforts by music historiographers to develop the concept of a Classic–Romantic dialectic in 18th and 19th-century music. To a large degree, his music reflects a fundamental tension between Classicism and Romanticism in the generation of German composers after Beethoven." R. Larry Todd in Grove Music Online.

Item #40967

Price: $700.00  other currencies