Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/113

 THE FIRST PERFORMANCE.

��and a Handel chorus ! If the Committee tried their skill at providing an anti-climax, they admir- ably succeeded.

At the concluding concert, on Friday morning, the final chorus of Handel's " Zadok the Priest " was set down for performance. Almost at the last minute it was found that there was no music for the preceding Recitative printed in the word- book.* The Committee were in a fix, and then they suddenly thought that Mendelssohn might be able to help them in their hour of need. He was sitting in the Vice-President's gallery, enjoying the performance, when the chairman of the Orchestral Committee, the late Mr. J. F. Ledsam, went to him and stated their difficulty, Mendelssohn at once proceeded to the ante-room, and, in a few minutes, composed a recita- tive for tenor solo, with accompaniment for strings and two trumpets. The parts were expeditiously copied by the indefatigable Goodwin, and the whole recitative was performed prima vista by Mr. Lockey, a quintet of strings, and the two trumpet players. The audience were entirely ignorant of the cir- cumstance of this impromptu composition, and doubtless thought that they were listening to music by Handel.

Through the kindness of the late Dr. W. A. Barrett and Messrs. Goodwin and Tabb, it is possible

• The words of this Recitative, probably written by the Rev. John Webb, first appeared in the word-book of the 1S37 Festival, just after the accession of Queen Victoria. They supplanted those beginning " When King David was old," first sung in 1820. These new (Victorian) words were also used at the Festival of 1840, but not in 1843.

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