Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/55

 BIRMINGHAM.

��then. Or would the music to the * Midsummer Night's Dream ' be the thing? My Symphony in A minor, about which you questioned me in one of your former letters, lasts about thirty-five to forty minutes.

"And if 3'ou can have Jenny Lind for the Festival, by all means have her, for we have now no singer on the Continent who is to be compared to her. But although she has no fixed engagement, neither at Berlin nor elsewhere, I fear it will be difficult to make her come, as they are all mad about her, and force her into more engagements than she can accept. And Pischek would also be the man, I am sure! But he is known already in England ; and if you get Jenny Lind, it will be such a novelty at the same time, and will give a new character to the Festival. Now, before all, I hope that these lines may find you in better health, that your indisposition will be forgotten long before they arrive, and that I may meet you again in perfect strength and happiness.

��"Yours very truly, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy."

��The Committee at once acted upon Mendelssohn's suggestion that Jenny Lind should be invited to sing; and at their meeting on December 26 resolved — "That Mr. Moore be requested to use his endeavours to engage Jenny Lind, and impress upon Mendelssohn the importance of completing his new oratorio." Moore evidently asked Mendelssohn to be the { 37 )

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