There is an abundance of sources for Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah, which was hailed as the most important work of its day soon after its first performance. Bärenreiter’s new edition sheds new light on the work.
Mendelssohn conceived the oratorio Elijah in the mid-1830s, shortly after the success of its predecessor, Paulus. As early as 1837 he worked with his friend Karl Klingemann on a scenario for Elijah. For several years after that, however, he became involved in other major projects. It was not until he received an invitation from Birmingham to present a major work at the Music Festival there in 1846 that he found the impetus to complete this masterpiece. He spent most of the last two years of his life on the composition and revision of Elijah, seeing it through to publication only shortly before his death.
Mendelssohn completed the score for the first performance only just in time for the parts to be copied and rehearsals to begin. He conducted the premiere at Birmingham Town Hall on 26 August 1846. As he usually did, Mendelssohn regarded the first performance as a stage in the music’s progress toward its final form. In April 1847 a revised version had several performances in London, as well as in Manchester and again in Birmingham. Immediately, Elijah came to be regarded as the most important oratorio of the century, at least in Britain. Yet Mendelssohn never heard a performance of the work in Germany. The complete score was published in October 1847, and the composer died on 4 November.
Because of the many revisions in the oratorio, and especially because much of the preparation of the scores and parts had to take place through the mail, compositional sources for Elijah abound. The first published edition, supervised and closely proofread by the composer, provides the most authoritative version. In addition, a large number of sketches and drafts, the copyist’s score for Birmingham, the autograph full score, other autograph materials, multiple sets of printers’ proofs, and voluminous correspondence all enrich our understanding of the music.
Other recent editions of Elijah appear to have relied on the edition of Julius Rietz, who prepared the score for the old Breitkopf & Härtel collected works, published in the 1870s. The present Bärenreiter edition (English/German), prepared by Douglass Seaton, follows the composer’s authorized first edition, with close attention to all the other available sources. The editor’s introduction summarizes the work’s history and offers new insights into its design. The critical notes identify the source material and identify important alternate readings where appropriate.
The libretto of Elijah emerged only after years of effort. Mendelssohn was determined as much as possible to take the text directly from the Bible. Mostly, of course, the words derive from I Kings 17-19 and 21 and II Kings 1-2, which recount the prophet’s career. Additional texts come from different passages, including, for example, the Psalms for some of the choruses of praise to God.
Mendelssohn’s plan of Elijah frames the story in two sections, each concluding with a grand chorus. The first part centers on the drought in Israel and three related episodes, each leading up to a miraculous climax. In the second part three further episodes provide the general outline, the threat to Elijah’s life from queen Jezebel, the prophet’s fears assuaged by reassurances of his relationship with God, and his ascent to heaven in a fiery chariot.
The musico-dramatic design incorporates both structural reminiscence motives and symbolic use of keys. The important motives – the prophet’s rising invocation and a sequence of interlocked falling diminished fifths – appear already in his curse, bringing the drought on Israel, before the overture begins. These appear in various guises and different keys in the course of the action.
Mendelssohn notated a harmonic plan for the work in an early sketch of the scenario for part 1 of the work, apparently dating from the winter of 1845-1846. It includes the keys of almost all the major numbers. The outline matches the final version with just one exception, where, as Douglass Seaton’s introduction demonstrates, Mendelssohn changed his mind in order to bring the episode of the revival of the widow’s son into the orbit of the other miracles (E minor and E major) rather than connecting it to the idea of prayer (E flat major).
In addition to the authoritative score, the new edition provides facsimiles showing pages of several of the original sources. Among these is a previously unknown set of printer’s proofs with Mendelssohn’s corrections.
Further, an appendix includes transcriptions of several movements from the copyist’s score for the Birmingham performance, movements that did not survive into the final version of the oratorio. Some of these were completely replaced, and others represent early forms of movements that were heavily revised. Although they are not authentically part of Mendelssohn’s conception of the finished work they provide new insights into his compositional process and demonstrate his critical judgment of his own work.
Douglass Seaton
from [t]akte 2/2009
Oratorio: New insights. The new edition of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Elijah op. 70 (English/German)
Edited by Douglass Seaton.
Bärenreiter-Verlag 2009. Score, vocal score and parts
To be published in december 2009