F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Two first editions, including of the full score of "Elijah", c.1839-1847

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Two first editions

Elias Ein Oratorium nach Worten des alten Testaments componirt von Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Op.70 [full score], Bonn:N. Simrock, [1847], some scattered spotting

FIRST EDITION OF THE FULL SCORE, 385 pages (33 x 26.5cm), lithographic title and half-title by C. Hahn, showing the prophet with outstretched arms and a bull, Elijah’s foot resting on a broken monument to Baal, with ownership inscriptions to front endpaper and fore-edges, inscribed by Albi Rosenthal on the inside front cover, nineteenth-century half leather over cloth boards by J. Brechin, 45 Commercial St., Dundee, modern slipcase

Trois Grands Quatuors pour 2 Violons, Alto et Basse arrangés pour le Piano à quatre mains…Oeuvr.44.No.1 (Arrangement revu par l’Auteur), Leipzig: chez Breitkopf & Härtel; Paris: chez Richault, [1839/1840]

FIRST EDITION, 45 pages, oblong folio (25.5 x 33cm), engraved throughout, plate numbers 5936, 5937 and 5951, contemporary cloth-backed boards

Elijah, the greatest of Mendelssohn’s large-scale choral works, was written for the Birmingham Festival and performed there under the composer’s direction on 26 August 1846. It was a triumph, one of the most complete of the composer’s glittering career and represented the pinnacle of his many visits to England.

Mendelssohn’s String Quartets op.44 are regarded as among his greatest works. The piano arrangement here (by Friedrich Mockwitz, and overseen by the composer) is little known today.

LITERATURE:

MWV, pp.35 (Elijah) and 476 (Sammeldruck 19)

PROVENANCE:

John Wedderspoon, Dundee (Elijah); Otto Haas (op.44 and Elijah)