Page:The history of Mendelssohn's oratorio 'Elijah'.djvu/61

 BIRMINGHAM.

��Schiller's "An die Kunstler " ("To the Sons of Art"), Op. 68.

On his return to Leipzig, Mendelssohn heard that some members of the Philharmonic band, who had been discourteous to him during his previous visit to London, were not to be engaged for the Birmingham Festival. He at once wrote off to Moscheles in the following emphatic terms : —

[Mendelssohn to Moscheles.]

Leipzig, Jutte 26, 1846.*

" My dear Friend, — The occasion of these lines is a passage in Mr. Moore's letter, in which he says : ' Nearly the whole of the Philharmonic band are engaged [for Birmingham] ; a few only are left out who made themselves unpleasant when you were there.'!

" Now, I strongly object to this restriction ; and as I fancy you can exercise your authority in the communicate it to Mr. Moore. There is nothing I hate more than the reviving of bygone disputes ; it is bad enough that they should have occurred. This one of the Philharmonic is, as far as I am concerned, dead and buried, and must on no account have any influence on the selection made for the Birmingham Festival. If men are to be rejected because they are incompetent, that is not my business and I have nothing to say in the matter; but if it is because

Felix Moscheles (Triibner), p. 274.
 * From "Letters of Mendelssohn to L and C. Moscheles," by

f At a Philharmonic rehearsal in 1844. ( 43 )

�� �