Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Letter to his family
August 7, 1829
On the same day that Mendelssohn made his sketch of the Hebrides, which can be seen in the case below, he wrote in this letter to his family: “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, the following came into my mind there.” There follows, in piano score, the first 21 bars of music that would become the Hebrides overture (this section can be heard on the listening station in this gallery, and seen in the published score displayed in the case below). Mendelssohn had already decided upon the tempo and dynamics (a sustained, energetic piano), and even the orchestration is indicated, beginning with strings, adding woodwinds after the fourth bar, and trumpets right at the end of the fragment. As the letter is dated the day before Mendelssohn and Klingemann visited Fingal’s Cave, it seems likely that the view from Oban seen in Mendelssohn’s drawing nearby provided the crucial moment of inspiration.
On August 11, Mendelssohn added a postscript to the letter:
“How much lies between my last letter and this! The most fearful sickness, Staffa, scenery, travels, people — Klingermann (sic) has described it, and you will forgive a short note, the more so as the best I can tell you is contained in the above music.”
LENT BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
(Photo Credit: Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox
and Tilden Foundations)
*MNY++ (Mendelssohn