His entrance upon his glorious career as a composer of sacred music may be ascribed to the committee of the Birmingham Festival, which called forth the orato- rio of St. Paul for its festival of 1837. The impression which this composition made at Bu'mingham is de- scribed by those present as truly grand. In 1840 Men- delssohn composed his Hymn of Praise, written ex- pressly for the Birmingham Festival, and performed under his direction. It is a work called a symphony cantata, of marvellous beauty. His third and last ora- torio was also written for Birmingham, and, although he commenced it in 1837, it was onh^ finished in time for the festival of 1846, and during these nine years he bestowed upon it his greatest care and attention. The first performance of it took place Aug. 26, 1846, he being the conductor.- The enthusiasm was unbounded, and it was universally pronounced his masterpiece, and the greatest oratorio since Handel brought out his Messiah,
Although king Frederick William IV bestowed the greatest honors upon IMendelssohn, and offered him ev- ery inducement to stay in Berlin, yet he preferred Leip- sic, and it was mostly there and in England that he devoted his time to further everT,'thing noble and true in art, IMendelssohn was also a diligent scholar in phi- lology', hfstory, and other sciences. His Letters from Italy and Switzerland (translated from the German by lady Wallace, London, 1862) bear evidence of his su- perior attainments, and may be regarded as a fine liter- ary production. In the selection of a text for his ora- torios he was very exact, and to the careful student of sacred music it must be apparent that in ^Mendelssohn's compositions, founded upon a scriptural text, not only love of music as an art,-but also a genuine spirit of piety
MENDELSSOHN
8-4
MEXDELSSOIIX
is revealed. No one could give more true and deeply- I'elt expression than he did in his music to such passa- ges as tliesc: "As the hart pants for cooling streams," "I waited for the Lord," "He, watching over Israel," " It is enough," etc. By the student and lover of sa- ci"ed music Mendelssohn must ever be regarded as a shining light. If not endowed with the genius of a Bach, lliindel, Mozart, or Beethoven, the great talent, exquisite taste, and depth of feeling which he disiilayed in all his cornpositions will ever secure him a place among the first of masters. Kiehl, in his Munikaligche Karukterlcupfe (i, lOG), says, " jMany thousands have, by the influence of Mendelssohn's music, been led to tlie study of the works of Bach and Handel, and enableil to form a more correct idea of their true and lasting value." Again, KieJil says (p. 101),." He made the severe forms of sacred music more elegant and more charming by uniting the formal part of it with a subjective wealth of feeling." In his private life he was a man of most charming disposition, making all who came in contact with him his ardent friends and admirers. Towards his fellow-artists he was perfectly free from ein-y, always encouraging those in wliom he discovered talent. Death plucked liim when in his best years, at Leipsic, Xov. 4, 1817. It is impossible to speak here in detail of Men- delssohn's works. They are very numerous, and embrace every branch of his art, but it was in sacred music that his highest powers were displayed; and St. Pdul and Elijdli will descend to jiosterity along with the Messiah and 7.s/v/(/ //; /.''/'///^ See Bfuvdict, Leben u. Werke dcs F. Mend,h.<nhn-iiarlhnl'hi (isr.d); Lampadius, 7.-/«« (/. Felix MtiidcUsokn-Hiirthnl,!,! (l.cips. IMS; i,, ];n-li>li. • N. Y. 18G5) ; IVtis, ]iin;,n,ph;, I >nn /v, //, ,/, .V Miisiri. n.< :
V. Magnien, Etude bioyrajj/ii'^ne siir Mendi l^sohn-JJar- tholdy (1850); Uiller/j/endclsso/iH-Bcirtkoldt/ (Cologne and Lond. 1874); Fraser's Afiif/dzine, Apn],l8i8; Brit- ish (InartTlij /i'erzeir, October,' 1862.
Mendelssohn, Moses (also called Ramban [■^Z-^IJ, from the initials of bn:"3 Cn:i3 'p tTi^^D H, li. Moses ben-Menachem Mendel, and Moses Dkssau), whom Mirabeau describes as " nn homme jete par la nature au sien d'une horde avilie, ne sans espece de for- tune, avcc nn temjierament faible et meme infirme, un caracti-re timide, uiie douceur peut-etre excessive, en- chainii toute sa vie dans une profession presque me- chanique, s'est eleve rang des plus grands ecrivains que ce siecle a vu naitre en Allemagne" {Sur Moses Men- delssohn, London, 1787), was born at Dessau, Germany, Sept. 6, 1729. His father was a copier (ISJ'D) of Bibli- cal writings upon parchment. Moses gave early tokens of an intelligent and- scrutinizing mind. Fortunately for liis nascent talents, the rabbi of the congregation, Daviil Ilerschel Friinkel, perceiving the eagerness of the boy for learning, undertook to instruct him in all those Ijranches which then constituted a Jewish educa- tion—the Bible in the original Hebrew, with its chief commentaries, and rabbinical literature. At an. early age Mendelssohn also became acquainted with Mai- monidcs's (q. v.) famous work, the Moi-e Xebu'chim, or "CJuide of the Perplexed," the intense study of which made a new sera in liis life, and that in two ways— it laid the foundation- of his mental culture, and ajso of his bodily disease and suffering. (Mendelssohn was hump-backed, and extremely small and feelde in per- son.) The (ierman language the rabbins of :Mendels- sohn's early days iiroscribed as (;entile learning, and hence his studies had been entirely confined to tlie Hebrew ; but as he branched out in "his studies he also acquired the (ierman tongue. AVhen hardly fourteen years of age he was obliged to relintiuish learning for the choice of a profession. He went to Berlin in search of employment, and there gained his scanty subsistence by following the occui>ation of copyist and corrector for the press, carefully making use of every leisure mo- ment to learn the ancient languages, ami to gam in-