Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/44

 CHAPTER II.

��BIRMINGHAM.

Mendelssohn does not seem to have done anything with the music of " Ehjah " until 1845. The Committee of the Birmingham Musical Festival were then making arrangements for their approaching triennial music meeting, to be held in 1846.

The history of the Birmingham IMusical Festival, which dates back to 1768, is full of interest. The artistic excellence of the Festival, and the enterprise which has also so long distinguished it, have earned for this great music-meeting a European reputa- tion. Charity, in one of its best forms — the relief of the sick and suffering poor — has been richly sustained by the benefactions, amounting in the aggregate to the munificent sum of £"132,000, which the Festivals have brought into the treasury of the Birmingham General Hospital.

Mendelssohn loved England and the English people. He was never happier than when visiting this country, and Birmingham had a warm corner in and 1840, when he conducted respectively his ■** St. Paul " and the " Hymn of Praise," were most ( 28 )

�� �