Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/419

MEN proved to be his last public appearance there. The reception of "Elijah" in London was worthy of its transcendent merit; the queen commanded a repetition of its performance, and made this the occasion of her first visit to the concerts of the Sacred Harmonic; and the public did full justice to the noble work in which the composer attained the summit of his greatness. Mendelssohn played Beethoven's pianoforte Concerto in G on the 26th of April, at the Philharmonic, and some organ pieces of Bach on the 5th of May, at one of the Ancient Concerts; these were his last public performances.

His health had greatly failed during the previous winter, so much so, that his physicians had prohibited his playing in public. He now sank under the enormous excitement he had undergone, and it became imperative that he should take some repose. He went therefore to Frankfort, but the tidings of the sudden death at Berlin of his favourite sister Fanny, the partner of his early studies, had so terrible an effect upon him, that he was removed successively to Baden-Baden and to Unterlaken, as the only means of restoring tranquillity to his heart and brain. With an energy resembling desperation, he appears to have plunged into composition, in order to force his thoughts from the grief that overwhelmed him; the violin Quartet in F minor, written at this time, is an expression of the anguish under which it was produced, that would be painful but for its all-surpassing beauty. It was now that he sketched his oratorio of "Christ," of which, though but four fragments are printed, he is said to have written a complete outline. The unfinished opera of "Loreley" was also the production of this same amazingly fruitful period; he had always had an inclination to dramatic composition, as is proved by the several early operas that have not been brought before the public, by the two that are printed, and by the powerfully marked character that animates all the passages in his works, susceptible of dramatic treatment He contemplated writing an opera on the subject of Shakspeare's Tempest, in 1833, the text for which was furnished by Immermann; but dissatisfied with this he abandoned his purpose. In 1837 he entered into arrangements with Chappell & Co. of London, to compose an English opera, for which Planché wrote a libretto, and this too he rejected. He was announced by Mr. Lumley in 1847 to be engaged on an opera upon his former theme. The Tempest, for her majesty's theatre, and again he was discontented with the drama, which this time Scribe had prepared for him. The fastidiousness thus evinced in adopting a groundwork for his labour, proves the high importance he attached to the task; and when his scrupulous requirements were at last fulfilled in Geibel's treatment of the old Rhine legend, the beauty of what he produced fully justified his careful choice of a poem. How much is it to be regretted that so small a portion of what he wrote, as two detached pieces, has been made known! Somewhat restored in health and spirits, Mendelssohn returned to Leipsic; but a visit to Berlin, in reminding him of its fatal cause, stimulated anew all his affliction. Once more in Leipsic, he wrote on the 9th of October the "Night Song" (No. 6 of Op. 71), which was his last composition. While trying this on the following day, with a lady who had been the first to sing many of his songs, he was struck with the illness from which he never recovered; and a cruel anxiety as to the progress of his disease filled the whole town, until its sad termination. A funeral service was performed over him in Leipsic, and his remains were then removed for interment in the family grave in Berlin, where again his obsequies were solemnized. The presence at each of these ceremonies of all persons connected with music and letters, all men of artistic and official distinction, and the greeting of the bier at every railway station it passed, by the musical societies of the place, were but small tokens of the general lamentation for the loss which art had sustained. Monarchs and artists wrote letters of condolence to his widow, and in all the cities of Germany and England, and in France and America, performances were given in honour of his memory. He left five children, and his widow survived him but six years.

Mendelssohn was pre-eminent as a composer, as a conductor, as an organist, and as a pianist He was the best contrapuntist that has shone as a creative imaginative musician, since Mozart. His powers of improvisation were unsurpassable, and the many anecdotes of his felicitous exercise of this brilliant faculty, are interesting as they are astonishing. Equal to his spontaneous invention, was his marvellous memory, which held at the command of the moment the minutest details of all his enormous store of musical reading. His mental acquirements were not confined to his own art; he was a skilful draughtsman, and was fond of sketching from nature the scenes that interested him. Besides reading fluently both Greek and Latin, he spoke and wrote with perfect ease in English, Italian, and French, and had a command of his own language, which is by no means common; and further, he excelled his companions in all personal exercises. His correspondence with his family during his visit to Italy (which was published in 1861), proves to the world a singular charm of his letter-writing, and gives deep insight into his genial and impressionable nature. The foible of his character was his thirst for good opinion, which led him indiscriminately to conciliate every one whose judgment could receive attention; thus his testimonials are of little credit, and his complimentary letters are not always utterances of his true opinion. In composition, besides the perfect individuality of his style, he has the merit of having originated that form of developed movement, in any variety of measure, which all will recognize in his Scherzo; of having created the "Song without Words;" of having condensed the concerto into limits that comprise all the original purpose, while they meet the demand for compression that marks the time when he wrote; of having united the several portions of a symphony in unbroken continuity; of having given to the concert overture a poetical intention and defined expression; and of having combined the distinct elements of the ecclesiastical oratorio of Bach and the dramatic oratorio of Handel, so as to produce a new type, which has become a standard for other writers. There is reason to believe that he left at least as much music which is still unprinted, as the very large amount of his published works. His friends, Ferdinand David, Hauptmann, Rietz, and Moscheles, were appointed by his family to select from his MSS. and issue to the world such of his compositions as they deemed fit for publication. All the works numbering after Op. 70, "Elijah," have been brought out by this committee, who, however, have for many years ceased from their interesting and valuable duty. The only reason that is alleged for this totally unjustifiable suppression of any of the productions of the master is, that he probably would have altered before he printed them; and the sufficient answer to this sophistication is, that his practice of alteration, as is proved by many instances in this notice, was only bounded by the printing of his works, and that he would unquestionably have altered what was printed could he have recalled it from the press. Let it be hoped that the many exhortations to his family, of those who are sincerely interested in his reputation, may yet be satisfactorily answered by the issue of all the fruits of the genius of Mendelssohn.—G. A. M.  MENDEZ-PINTO, F. See.  MENDIZABEL,, a Spanish financier and statesman, born at Cadiz in 1790, his father being a dealer in old clothes. During the French invasion of 1808, he was engaged in the commissariat department of the Spanish army; and in 1819 he was a participator in the schemes of Galiano and Isheriz for re-establishing the constitution of 1812, rendering great services to the revolutionary army by procuring money for its use. When the constitutional cause was overthrown in 1823 he took refuge in England, where he was imprisoned on account of some liabilities he had incurred for the late government. On being released he engaged for some time in trade, and in 1827 he successfully negotiated a loan for Dom Pedro of Portugal. In 1833 he undertook the provision of various supplies for the army of the young Spanish queen. On 13th June, 1835, he was called to become finance minister under the count of Toreño; and after concluding a loan in England he returned to Madrid, and became president of the council of ministers in September of the same year, undertaking to finish the war in six months. Among the most valuable of his acts was the final suppression of the monasteries. The cortes, which on the 16th of January had passed a vote of unlimited confidence in him, were dissolved on the 27th of the same month. The war was not, as he had promised, concluded in six months, and in May, 1836, he was forced to resign. He again held the portfolio of finance in the Calatrava ministry (11th of September, 1836, to 10th of August, 1837); and after remaining in opposition for three years he resumed his former position under Espartero in 1841. His public life closes with the fall of Espartero in 1843, when Mendizabel was obliged to take refuge in Portugal. He afterwards resided in England and France, and then returned to Madrid, where he died. 3rd November, 1853.—F. M. W. 