Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/150

 HISTORY OF MENDELSSOHN'S '•ELIJAH."

��The following extract from the 1847 Report of the Sacred Harmonic Society records the presentation of the above " compliment " to Mendelssohn : —

" Both Her Majesty and Prince Albert were graciously pleased to express their gratification at the Performance, and the attention paid to them ; and the Prince a few days afterwards condescendingly inscribed in a Book of the Words of the Oratorio, an elegant compliment to Dr. Mendelssohn, in his native tongue, which was handed to him on the morning of his departure from England, by a deputa- tion from your Committee, and received by him with marked feelings of pleasure and gratitude.

Mendelssohn was on the presentation to him of this affectionate token of sympathy. His rapturous exclamations of delight, as over and over again he read each word of the inscription, his repeated expression of fears of his inability adequately to acknowledge this touching mark of appreciation, were again and again renewed."*
 * It cannot be described how deeply gratified

Mendelssohn also conducted performances of the revised work at ^Manchester (Hargreaves Choral

• " The Sacred Harmonic Society : a Thirty-five Years' Retro- spect, by Robert K. Bowley, Treasurer. Privately printed. 1867." Mr. Bowley was one of the deputation of two officers of the Society who waited upon Mendelssohn to present him with the Prince Consort's " affectionate token of sympathy." He was one of the oldest members of the Sacred Harmonic Society, and subsequently became Librarian, and then Treasurer. In 185S he became General Manager of the Crystal Palace, which ortice he retained till his death in 1870. He also originated and carried out the Handel Festivals.

( 12S )

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