Beschreibung:

MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809-1847). Autograph music manuscript, a song book prepared for his wife, Cécile Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, inscribed in autograph on title 'Liederbuch für Cécile M. B.', Christmas 1845, comprising 17 songs with piano accompaniment in Mendelssohn's hand, including a number of autograph cancellations and emendations in pen and pencil, together with eight other compositions in two other hands (one that of Mendelssohn's sister, Rebekka Dirichlet); altogether 35 pages, small oblong 4to (167 x 218mm), in autograph, and 18 pages in other hands (the first gathering sprung and reattached; small loss to inner margin of f.18); contemporary white limp boards, decorated in watercolour with floral designs by Mendelssohn within embossed borders, and inscribed on f.1 'Cécile Weihnachten 1845', gilt edges, in a blue paper wrapper, inscribed in another hand on upper cover 'Cécile Mendelssohn-Bartholdy'; red calf case. Provenance : By descent from Cécile Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to Mrs M.E. Chapman, adopted daughter of the composer's granddaughter, Dorothea Wach; Sotheby's, 12 May 1959, lot 337; bought by Eric Korner as a 25th Wedding Anniversary present to his wife, Cecily (Lee) Korner, and by descent. The songs in Mendelssohn's hand comprise: (1) 'Auf dem Wasser' ('Mein Liebchen, wir saßen beisammen') [unpublished before the re-appearance of the present manuscript] (2) 'Minnelied' [op.47 no.1] (3) 'Suleika' [op.57 no.3] (4) 'Morgengruß' [op.47 no.2] (5) 'Der Blumenstraus' [op.47 no.5] (6) 'Volkslied' [solo arrangement of the duet op.63 no.5] (7) 'Frühlingslied' [op.47 no.3] (8) 'Morgenlied' [op.86 no.2] (9) 'Venetianisches Gondellied Rendez vous' [op.57 no.5] (10) 'Fahrwohl!' ['Wenn sich zwei Herzen scheiden', op.99 no.5] (11) 'In dem Wald' ['Altdeutsches Lied', op.57 no.1] (12) 'Tröstung' [op.71, no.1] (13) 'Rheinisches Volkslied' ['O Jugend, o schöne Rosenzeit', op.57 no.4] (14) 'Der Mond' [op.86 no.5] (15) 'An den Wind' ['Auf der Wanderschaft', op.71 no.5] (16) 'Nachtlied' [op.71 no.6] (17) 'Frühlingslied [op.71 no.2] With the exception of nos. 8 and 11, all of the songs show textual variants from the published versions. AN EXQUISITE SONGBOOK, GIVEN AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT BY MENDELSSOHN TO HIS WIFE Mendelssohn's 'Songbook for Cécile' is evidently a carefully selected and executed compilation. The consistency of the hand and ink suggests that it was copied out at a single sitting, and the ordering of the songs, which bears no relation to dates of composition or publication, shows that careful deliberation was given to this aspect of the album's preparation -- in the middle of the collection, for example, nos.7-14, there appears to be a deliberate alternation of published and (then) unpublished songs. Six of the songs may have been composed for the occasion: in particular, the first song in the album, 'Auf dem Wasser' is known from no other source, and remained unpublished until the appearance of a facsimile in the Sotheby's catalogue in May 1959; the text of this song, for which no author is given, may conceivably also be by Mendelssohn. In addition, the composition of nos.10 and 12 is dated (Grove 7) to 22 December 1845, at most a few days before the presentation of this album; and nos. 8 and 14-16 are not known to have been composed earlier than this date. It is of particular interest to note that Mendelssohn appears to have used the present manuscript in the preparation of his op.71 collection, published around the time of his death on 4 November 1847: nos.12 and 15-17 bear extensive pencil revisions and are annotated with their numbers within the op.71 collection, and the compositional dates given in Grove for nos.15 and 16 (op.71 nos.5 and 6, 27 July and 1 October 1847) must relate to transcripts from the present manuscript: the Mendelssohns evidently still had the songbook close to hand in the months before his death. The remaining eight compositions in the album comprise four songs and a keyboard piece