# - Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix.

concerning the engagement of Jenny Lind for the music festival, recalling how it was earlier arranged that she would be able to combine her guest roles in Cologne and Aachen with her appearances at the music festival, noting that he has heard now that she willl be singing in Vienna from the middle of May onwards, urging him to engage her directly if he has not already done so since the Viennese will certainly try everything possible so as not to lose her after only five weeks, observing that it would be easier for her to leave Vienna if she had the offer of guest roles in his region as well as the prospect of the music festival, advising him that the success (the external succeess, at any rate) of the festival will be assured by her presence on the programme; Mendelssohn concludes with sober realization that should she not appear, for whatever reason, the majority of their audience will be unsatisfied with whatever they organize



...daher ersuche ich Sie, wie gesagt wegen des Musikfestes u. dessen Gelingen, die Sache mit jenen Gastrollen wo möglich wieder in Anregung u. zu Ende zu bringen. [D]enn so gut es ist eine solche Sängerin auf dem Programm zu sehen, so ist doch anderseits nicht zu leugnen, daß eben dadurch das ganze Gelingen des Festes in ihre Hand gegeben ist - das äußerliche Gelingen wenigstens. Wenn sie aus irgend einem Grund ausbleibt, (mit oder gegen ihren Willen) so ist der größte Theil der Zuhörer unzufrieden, wir mögen geben was wir wollen... 



2 pages, 4to ( x cm), integral autograph address panel, some autograph corrections, seal, Leipzig, 5 February 1846

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A good, unpublished letter by Mendelssohn concerning one of the greatest singers of the day, the 'Swedish Nightingale' Jenny Lind (1820-1887). It seems that Mendelssohn's advice was heeded, for the singer, having appeared in Vienna on 22 April, took part in May in performances of Haydn's The Creation and Handel's Alexander's Feast at the Lower Rhenish Festival at Aachen. It is often contended that Mendelssohn fell in love with the Swedish Nightingale during his last years. While this letter does not produce any new evidence regarding this matter, it certainly reveals the extent to which Mendelssohn was willing to act on behalf of the great singer.