In "Felix Mendelssohn’s Commissioned
Composition for the Hamburg Temple: The 100th
Psalm (1844)," Eric Werner maintains that Mendelssohn composed
Psalm 100 in the Spring of 1844 for the consecration of the new
building of the New Israelite Temple in Hamburg in a "somewhat
modified version of Luther’s" for a four-part mixed choir
plus small orchestra.[1] Werner bases
his contention on excerpts from one letter (not two letters, as he
holds) saved by the composer and preserved in the so-called Green
Books, from the director of the Hamburg Temple, Dr. Maimon
Fränkel, which he reproduces and translates in his article.
However, in Mendelssohn: A Life in Music and "On
Mendelssohn’s Sacred Music, Real and Imaginary", R. Larry
Todd raises some serious doubts about Werner’s conclusion,
and, after examining the existing setting of Psalm 100,
which is a cappella and in an unmodified translation
by Luther, Todd asserts, "The straightforward, popular style of the
music and its Lutheran version indicates it was written for the
Berlin cathedral."[2] In an effort
to address the mysterious history of Psalm 100 and the opposing
opinions about its fate in the Mendelssohn literature, this article
presents the complete existing correspondence between Mendelssohn
and Dr. Maimon Fränkel—a total of five letters from the
director (November 14, 1843-April 12, 1844, see appendix 1 and
2)—and,
based on both the letters and the music, ultimately proves that
Mendelssohn’s Psalm 100 was not intended for the Hamburg
Temple.
The Hamburg Temple, situated in the former Erste
Brunnenstraβe, was built by the architect H. G. Krug and
dedicated on October 18, 1818. According to the statutes of the
"New Israelite Temple Association in Hamburg," the new Temple was
founded in order to revive interest in Judaism and to restore
meaning to Jewish worship.[3] Among
the new additions were a women’s gallery with no grill, a
pulpit, and an organ on the western side; the latter two changes
were partially inspired by the Catholic Church.[4] In traditional Jewish worship, music was
minimal and synagogues often employed only a cantor assisted by a
bass and a boy soprano. Thus the organ was a noteworthy feature of
the new Temple and represented a significant step toward the
development of a modern liturgical Jewish music. However,
music’s new role in the Temple’s service forced its
leaders to commission new music from outside its
community—mostly from Gentile composers.[5]
Mendelssohn was contacted in this way on November 14,
1843, with a request from Fränkel for a composition for the
celebration of the Temple’s 25th anniversary.
Although Mendelssohn’s response does not survive, in his
letter of January 8, 1844, Fränkel thanked Mendelssohn for
considering his request, recommended that Mendelssohn set psalms
24, 84, and 100, and forwarded a copy of the Temple Society’s
Gesangbuch. He also suggested that Mendelssohn use the
translation of his grandfather and resolutely restricted the psalm
setting’s accompaniment to the organ alone. As
Fränkel’s third communication indicates, on January 21,
1844, Mendelssohn evidently requested in a letter of January 12 to
set the Lutheran translation instead of Moses Mendelssohn’s
and to compose a larger work—a cantata—with orchestral
accompaniment. Fränkel replied that he was not against the use
of the Lutheran translation of the psalms so long as its "harshness
and errors" were avoided. In spite of his restrictive remarks
regarding orchestral accompaniment in the letter of January 8, he
also acquiesced to Mendelssohn’s desire to compose a cantata
with orchestra and referred him to Sigismund Neukomm’s Der
Ostermorgen[6] as a model.
Mendelssohn apparently found this response satisfactory, and, in a
letter of the first of February, promised to set Psalm 24, not
Psalm 100. On March 29, Fränkel was still expecting Psalm 24
and hoped that Mendelssohn would set additional psalms that could
together create an entire performance. He was, however, at this
point confident enough about Mendelssohn’s musical
involvement in the Temple’s upcoming festivities to take the
opportunity to inquire about Emil Naumann, a student at the Leipzig
conservatory and grandson of Johann Gottlieb Naumann.[7] In the final letter from the
correspondence of April 12, 1844, after Mendelssohn had announced
in a letter of April 8 that he would not be able to compose
additional psalm settings, Fränkel expressed his regret that
Mendelssohn could not complete the "entire intended gift." He still
expected Psalm 24, though, and gave Mendelssohn a deadline of mid
May.[8] Whether or not
Mendelssohn completed this psalm setting is unclear given the
surviving correspondence and the fact that no score of Psalm 24 has
yet been discovered. It is apparent, though, that Mendelssohn did
not intend to compose Psalm 100 for the Temple as Werner maintained
and that Mendelssohn’s existing setting of Psalm 100 had a
different destination: the Berlin Cathedral.
Mendelssohn’s setting of Psalm 100 appeared
posthumously in the eighth volume of Musica Sacra (1855), a
collection of sacred music published by E. Bote and G. Bock and
intended for the Berlin Cathedral, with the instructive heading "Am
ersten Sonntage nach Epiphanias: Der 100ste Psalm." The autograph
score of Psalm 100, held in Kraków, Poland, is dated January
1, 1844, i.e., shortly before Fränkel recommended that
Mendelssohn set Psalm 100 for the Temple, but just in time for the
first Sunday after Epiphany, traditionally celebrated on January 6
as the climax of the Christmas Season and the end of the Twelve
Days of Christmas. This date, thus, suggests Mendelssohn’s
Psalm 100 could have been prepared for a performance on Sunday
after Epiphany at the Berlin Cathedral. Mendelssohn’s
employment at the time as Generalmusikdirektor für
kirchliche und geistliche Musik to the court of King Frederick
William IV further corroborates this theory.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who was crowned King of Prussia
in June 1840, sought to revitalize cultural life in Berlin and
summoned Mendelssohn to help in the sacred sphere as director of
sacred music in Berlin. From the outset, Mendelssohn was hesitant
to assume a position in Berlin. In a letter from Leipzig to Carl
Klingemann, March 1841, he wrote of his reluctance: ". . . I am
really not concerned with what people call honorable distinction,
which is what the invitation to Berlin actually signifies; I feel
like composing many different new things, and, not well, I know
that an annoying external situation . . . can very much disturb me
in this ..."[9] Although
Mendelssohn intended to withdraw from his impending obligations in
Berlin, during a meeting with the King on October 26, 1842, which
Ludwig von Massow, the Under Secretary for the Royal Household, was
able to arrange, Mendelssohn found the King in an "especially good
mood" ("besonders guter Laune")[10] and, against his initial judgment,
reconsidered and accepted the newly redefined appointment. One of
his new tasks was the composition of works for the select Berlin
Cathedral choir, which "had in effect been created especially for
Felix Mendelssohn," including the entire cycle of psalms.[11] According to Emil
Naumann, the editor of the eighth volume of Musica Sacra,
the King, an "extremely well-informed" lay theologian,[12] intended that
these new psalm settings would encourage community
participation—in accordance with the reinvigoration of the
apostolic practices he envisioned.[13] To achieve this desired involvement, the
King indicated his preference for an antiphonal performance of the
psalm "divided between choir and congregation" as marked in an
exemplar of the revised liturgy, drafted in January 1843 by the
Cathedral Ministerium, and sent to Mendelssohn by Massow.[14] The preface to
the eighth volume of Musica Sacra describes the part
Mendelssohn and Psalm 100 played in achieving these goals. Naumann
explains:
Then the first step occurred on the way to the goal
held fast in the eye of the king: Felix
Mendelssohn, in whom evangelical Christianity
actively held sway and operated, was
summoned to create a form for the psalm song, with
which, on the one hand, a
participation of the congregations was possible and,
on the other hand, art would also
achieve its full effect.... We indeed only possess
the 2nd, 22nd, 43rd [op.78], and 100th
psalm composed by him in this way. . .[15]
In this passage, Naumann links the King’s goal
of community participation with Mendelssohn’s setting of
Psalm 100 and provides Mendelssohn scholars with not only an
alternate destination for Psalm 100, but also a distinct historical
context from which to assess the composition.
The text and music of Mendelssohn’s Psalm 100
further support the conclusion that Psalm 100 was composed for the
Berlin Cathedral. As the letters show, Fränkel had
relinquished his hope that Mendelssohn would employ his
grandfather’s translation of the psalms and consented to
Mendelssohn’s request to use Luther’s translation of
the psalms so long as they were slightly modified.
Mendelssohn’s Psalm 100, however, is set to an unmodified
translation by Luther (see appendix 3). Although he may not
have believed in the Reform movement,[16]
Mendelssohn’s personal religious convictions should not have
prevented him from at least honoring Fränkel’s latter
stipulation. In fact, for many Gentile composers,
Fränkel’s initial request would not have been a problem.
Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814), Andreas Romberg (1767-1821), Franz
Danzi (1763-1826), Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800),
Johann Reinhardt (1752-1814), and even Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)[17] composed psalm
settings of Moses Mendelssohn’s translations. In view of this
precedent, it is perhaps more reasonable to conclude that Psalm
100, with its unmodified Lutheran setting, was composed for a
Protestant purpose.
Likewise, in its utter simplicity, the music of Psalm
100 suggests an association with the Berlin Cathedral. As
previously discussed, Mendelssohn had requested the employment of
orchestral accompaniment for his Psalm settings for the Temple and
Fränkel had consented. This appeal was perhaps partially
inspired by Mendelssohn’s belief that his strength lay in
orchestrally accompanied sacred music, rather than music in the
a-cappella style.[18]
Mendelssohn’s Psalm 100, however, is a cappella—in
keeping with the Prussian monarch’s musical standards, the
dictates of the Prussian Agende of 1829,[19] and the
Palestrina movement of the time, which reawakened the stylus a
cappella and encouraged nearly neo-syllabic settings of the
Psalms.[20] Thus, the
a-cappella setting of Psalm 100 is most likely a manifestation of
Mendelssohn’s concessions to its intended
destination—the Berlin Cathedral—rather than his own
choice. Not only that, the simple homophonic style of the music
adheres to the ideals championed at court. In a letter of February
14, 1844 to Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Redern, the
Generalintendant in charge of the music at court,
Mendelssohn explained these musical values in his instructions to
his future successor. He states, ". . . the destination of this
composition for the Divine Service makes desirable a setting in a
declamatory manner, thus with the least possible amount of word
repetition and with the slightest possible figuration, so that the
meaning of the words is understandable to the listener."[21] The homophonic
and syllabic opening of the first verse of Mendelssohn’s
Psalm 100 "Shout to the Lord all the earth" in C major illustrates
this suggested treatment (see example
1a). Although, on the last beat of measure 7, the soprano
voice initiates a bit of contrapuntal imitation that cadences in
the dominant in measure 12, the homophonic texture immediately
resumes on the last beat of measure 12, reiterating a root-position
C major chord before clearly intoning the text "Acknowledge that
the Lord is God." The B section (verse 3, "Enter his gates with
thanks," measures 32-64), in F major, while designated for eight
solo voices, still maintains the simple style of the A section. It
also exhibits the Prussian monarch’s sacred musical ideal of
a-cappella responsorial psalmody, when the tenor and bass soloists
begin in measure 32, alternating with the soprano and alto parts to
support the poetic structure (see example
1b). The choir re-emerges in the final section (verse 4), a
diatonic, syllabic, and strictly homophonic conclusion in C
major.[22]
The simple homophonic style of this Psalm is also
readily comparable to other psalm settings Mendelssohn composed for
the Berlin Cathedral at this time. Psalm 2, op. 78 no.1, composed
for the Christmas introit performed at the Berlin Cathedral, and
designated "Am ersten Weihnachts Feiertage" in Musica Sacra,
volume 8, is mostly homophonic and, according to Fanny’s
letter to Rebecka of December 26, 1843, "very pretty, very
Gregorian" ("sehr schön, sehr gregorianisch").[23] Like Psalm 100,
it includes a brief solo section in the middle (measures 41-47) and
is written for a-cappella choir, with brief passages of simple
imitative writing and repeated root-position harmonies, which James
Garratt identifies as signs of the Protestant Palestrina revival at
court.[24] According to
Fanny, however, "Felix would prefer to compose with orchestra . .
." ("Felix möchte lieber mit Orchester komponieren. .
.").[25] Evidently,
Mendelssohn indulged himself in this desire when he composed Psalm
98, op.91 for New Year’s Day with orchestral accompaniment.
The ensuing controversy may have ensured Mendelssohn’s
subsequent adherence to the Prussian monarch’s a-cappella
ideal, especially when no instrumentalists were assigned to the
Music Institute during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent.[26] Thus, in January
and February 1844, Felix set Psalms 43, op.78 no.2 and 22, op.78
no.3 without instrumentation. These psalms, like Psalms 2 and 100,
are predominantly homophonic, syllabic, and have responsorial
sections. Of the four psalm settings, only psalm 43 does not
include the use of solo voices.
Based on these similarities, Mendelssohn’s use
of the Lutheran translation, Naumann’s preface to the eighth
volume of Musica Sacra, and Fränkel’s letters,
Mendelssohn’s setting of Psalm 100 was not intended for the
Hamburg Temple, but was most likely the result of his engagement in
the King’s project of cultural revitalization.[27] Although several
puzzles still remain about the composition and performance of
Mendelssohn’s Psalm 100, this article hopefully concludes the
debate about the ultimate destination of the Psalm setting.
Appendix 1: The Complete
Existing Correspondence Between Mendelssohn and Dr. Maimon
Fränkel (November 14, 1843-April 12, 1844)
GB XVIII, 185[28]
Hochzuverehrender,
Wohlgeborener Herr
Der neue Israelitischer Tempel hinselbst, eine
Anstalt welche vor Kurzem ihr 25 jähriges Bestehen gefeiert
hat und welche sich nähert, die wahre Musik durch
Einführung von Chorälen, Orgelspiel und einigen
ausgedehnteren Tonstücke dem vollständigen
jüdischen, hier theils deutsche, theils ebräische
abgehaltenen Gottesdienste fest einverleibt zu haben, hat die
Absicht, bei der bevorstehenden Eröffnung seines neuen
gröβeren Lokals, in seiner Musik einen nahmhaften
Fortschritt durch Hinzufügung gröβerer
Gesangstücke eintreten zu lassen.
Bei dieser Gelegenheit wagt er, sich auch an Sie zu
wenden, um Ihre gütige Mitwirkung in Anspruch zu nehmen. Ihr
erhabenes Talent ist zu sehr Gemeingut des ganzen Vaterlandes, und
der Name Mendelssohn ist noch immer insbesondere jedem
deutschen Israeliten zu theuer, als daß wir uns nicht der
frohen Hoffnung hingeben sollten, Sie die Composition einiger
dieser Stücke[29] auf unsern
ergebenste Bitte übernehmen zu sehen.
Erlauben Sie uns hiebei zu bemerken, daß die
jüdische Liturgie sehr reich ist an empfindungsvollen
Ausdrücken, an prägnanten Bildern, ja so zu sagen an
dramatischen Situationen, die dem Tondichter ein willkommenes, noch
kaum bearbeitetes Feld darbieten; so wie andererseits unsere
Gemeinde, wenn auch noch nicht so allgemein musikalisch gebildet,
wie sie es hoffentlich später, selbst unter Mitwirkung der
beabsichtigten Vervollkommnung werden wird, doch im Durchschnitt
sehr empfänglich für die Musik und die durch sie zu
erzielende Erhöhung des allgemeinen Schönheitssinnes
ist.
Indem wir nun einer geneigtesten Antwort entgegen
sehen, behalten wir uns vor, Ihnen bei Aufgabe der Stücke
selbst—deren einige vielleicht ebräisch sein
würden—Näheres über die musikalischen
Kräfte des Tempels, die nöthige Zeitdauer u.s.w.
anzugeben.
Mit vollkommender Hochachtung
|
Dr. M. Fraenkel d.z. Präses.
der Tempel Direction
|
Hamburg
14 Nov 1843
|
M.M. Haarbleicher
Mitgl. der Cultus Commision
|
S.T. Herrn Kapellmeister Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Dr.Berlin
GBXIX,15
Wohlgeborener
Hochverehrter Herr,
Empfangen Sie den verbindlichsten Dank der Direction
des neuen Tempelvereins für Ihre gütige Bereitwilligkeit,
die Wünsche derselben zu berücksichtigen. Wir
schätzen auch eine theilweise Erfüllung dieser
Wünsche von Ihnen hoch, und werden, was Sie uns an
Psalm-Compositionen mittheilen wollen und in unserm Gottesdienst
verwendbar ist, mit vielem Vergnügen benutzen. Ich erlaube
mir, Ihnen unser Gesangbuch zuzusenden, wo Sie ein Verzeichniβ
von bearbeiteten Psalmen finden, die bei unserm Gottesdienste
gebraucht werden. Wir besitzen zwar zu den sämmtlichen Nummern
dieses Buches Melodien, aber von sehr verschiedenem Werthe: unter
sehr versprechenden finden sich viele mittelmässige und nicht
wenige ganz unbrauchbar darunter.
Zunächst erlauben wir uns, den 24., 84., und
100. Psalm besonders hervorzuheben; gerade von diesen Psalmen
wäre uns die Composition eines Meisters höchst
erwünscht. Unser neues Tempelgebäude soll nämlich um
Pfingsten dieses Jahres eingeweiht werden, und die genannten
Psalmen scheinen uns für diese Gelegenheit vorzügsweise
geeignet; sie würden jedoch nicht als Gelegenheitsstücke
nach einmaligen Gebrauche bei Seite gelegt, sondern dem kleinen
Schätze unserer besten Tempel-Melodien zu öfterem
Gebrauche einverleibt werden.
Wir besitzen zum gewöhnlichen Gottesdienste
einen Chor von 16 Knaben; wir können jedoch bei
ungewöhnlichen Aufführungen auch die Mitwirkung von
wenigstens 40 Damen und Herren (jüdischen und christlichen
Glaubens) rechnen, wie dieß am letzten 18. Oct. der Fall war,
wo zur 25 jährigen Jubelfeier des Tempels eine Cantate von
einem jungen hiesigen Componisten aufgeführt wurde. Die beiden
ersten der genannten Psalmen (24 u. 84) wären als Cantate zu
behandeln. Sollen sie in wörtlicher Uebersetzung componiert
werden, so wäre die Uebersetzung Ihres seligen Grossvaters
(ruhmvollen Andenkens!) zu Grunde zu legen; es bleibt Ihnen aber
gänzlich überlassen, irgend eine poetische Bearbeitung
dieser Psalmen zu benutzen. So bleibt auch die Einrichtung derselbe
zu Cantaten Ihrem Ermessen anheimgestellt, und wir würden
Ihnen nur auf Ihren besten Wunsch eine Schematisirung vorschlagen.
Ich muβ hier die einschränkende Bemerkung
hinzufügen, daβ die Begleitung ohne Orchester und
für die Orgel allein gesetzt sein müsste.
Dieß war neulich auch bei der erwähnten Cantate der Fall,
und Sachkundige fanden die Ausführung auch in dieser Beziehung
lobenswerth. Der bald einzuweihende Tempel erhält eine neue
ziemlich groβe Orgel, die jetzt hier gebau[t] wird. Wenn Sie
nur die Freude verschaffen wollen, unser Gottesha[us] mit
Ihren Compositionen einzuweihen, so müssen wir dieselbe
spätestens zu Ostern haben. Die schleunige Antwort mit welcher
Sie unsere erste Zuschrift beehrt haben, ermüthigt uns, Sie
mit der Bitte zu behelligen, daß Sie uns gütigst wissen
lassen wollen, ob wir die gewünschte Composition von Ihnen
erwarten dürfen.
Genehmigen Sie die wiederholte Versicherung unserer
ausgezeichneten Hochachtung und Ergebenheit.
Dr. Fraenkel
Präses der Direction des Tempelvereins
Hamburg, den 8. Januar 1844
GB XIX, 48
Hochgeehrtester Herr,
In Erwiederung auf Ihr geehrtes Schreiben vom 12. d.
M. freut es mich Ihnen sagen zu können, daβ wir Ihren
Wunschen gern entgegnen können, um Ihre in Hoffnung gestellte
Zusage zu erhalten. Das Ungewöhnliche einer Orchester
Begleitung im Tempel findet allerdings in dem ungewöhnlichen
Act der Einweihung seine vollkommene Ausgleichung und
Rechtfertigung, und wir haben noch den besonderen Vortheil, eine
vollständigere Wirkung der Composition erwarten zu
dürfen. Auch gegen den Gebrauch der Lutherischen Psalmen
Uebersetzung haben wir nichts, wenn die Härten und
Unrichtigkeiten in denselben vermieden werden, wie dieses in
Betreff der in Rede stehenden Psalmen auf einliegendem Blatte
bemerkt ist—was Sie gewiβ billigen werden.
Unsere [sic] Wunsch, einige der bezeichneten Psalmen
zum Behufe der Einweihung als Cantaten behandelt zu sehen, haben
wir bereits ausgesprochen. Dieser Wunsch würde seine volle
Erfüllung finden, wenn es möglich wäre, diese
Psalmen zu einem Ganzen zu verschmelzen. Dieses bleibt
jedoch Ihrem Ermessen anheimgestellt, so wie der Gebrauch einer
ganz unmetrische Uebersetzung, oder einer bloβ rhythmischen
Uebertragung, oder einer ganze strophischen Bearbeitung, wie bei
Neukomm’s Ostermorgen. Sollen Sie es angemessen finden, Ps.
24 u. 84 für das Orchester und der Hundertste für
Singstimmen allein zu componieren, so würde für die
Ausführung ebenfalls ein guter Erfolg zu erwarten sein.
Da die Eröffnung des Tempels erst nach
Pfingsten stattfinden wird, so wäre es nicht nöthig,
daβ wir die Composition vor dem Mai erhalten.
Indem somit alles Hinderliche beseitigt zu sein
scheint, überlassen wir uns gern der Hoffnung, die Einweihung
unseres neuen Gotteshauses durch Ihre Composition verherrlicht zu
sehen und wünschen, daβ der Allwaltende Ihnen ein
dauerhaftes Wohlsein und eine heitere Stimmung verleihen
möge.
Mit ausgezeichneter Hochachtung und Ergebenheit,
Hamburg, den 21. Januar 1844
GB XIX, 192
Wohlgeborner,
Hochverehrter Herr
Gern hätte ich schweigend gewartet, bis Sie Ihr
gütiges Versprechen lösen würden; aber die
Umstände nöthigen mich, Sie abermals mit einem Schreiben
zu behelligen,--was Sie hoffentlich entschuldigen werden. Nach
Ihrem Schreiben vom 1. Febr. haben wir den 24. Psalm mit
Gewiβheit von Ihnen zu erwarten; über die Composition der
beiden andern bezeichneten Psalmen konnten Sie uns damals keine
bestimmte Zusage machen. Wäre Ihnen dieβ vielleicht jetzt
möglich? Die Einweihung des neuen Tempels soll an einem Abend
stattfinden und einen ganzen Act bilden; in diesem Falle würde
ein Psalm nicht zureichend sein. Höchst erfreulich
wäre es uns, wenn es Ihre Muβe Ihnen gestattete (Ihre
Muse wirds!)[30] unsern Wunsch
vollständig zu befriedigen. Sollten Sie jedoch wirklich
verhindert werden, uns mehr als einen Psalm mitzutheilen, so
müβten wir bei Zeiten auf eine anderweitige
Ergänzung denken, wozu Ihr Rath uns sehr willkommen sein
würde.
Da ich einmal "angefangen habe zu reden," so erlaube
ich mir, noch eine andere Bitte auszusprechen. Emil Naumann, der
Sohn des Prof. N. aus Bonn, betreibt, wie ich von seiner Mutter,
meiner vieljährigen Freundin, weiβ, seine musikalische
Ausbildung unter Ihrer Leitung. Die mir als ausgezeichnet
gerühmten Anlagen des jungen Musiker und Ihr Einfluβ
berechtigen zu hoffnungsvollen Erwartungen. Im Interesse, welches
ich an den Eltern des jungen Mannes nahm, erlaube ich mir die
Frage, ob derselbe den von ihm angeregten Erwartungen wirklich
entspricht, und die Aussicht eröffnet den Namen seines
Groβvaters mit verjüngtem Ruhme zu verherrlichen? Ihr
briefliches Zeugniβ an die Frau Prof. N. berechtigt zu dieser
Hoffnung; wie man aber den Weg beobachtet hat, den ausgezeichnete
Kräfte bis zu gerechter[31] Entwickelung [sic] zu machen haben, so
wird man nur durch einen isthmischen Sieg beruhigt, oder durch den
maaβgebende [sic] Zuruf eines Eingeweiheten [sic]: Macte
virtute! Ich würde es mit Dank erkennen, wenn Sie die
Gewogenheit hätten, mir hierüber einige Worte zu
sagen.
Indem ich meinem Schreiben eine freundliche Aufmachen
wünsche, bleibe ich mit aufrichtiger Verehrung und
Ergebenheit.
Hamburg, den 29 März 1844
GB XIX, 223 [April 12, 1844]
Hochverehrter Herr,
In Erwiederung auf Ihr geehrtes Schreiben vom 8. d.
M. muβ ich zwar herzlich bedauern, daβ Sie verhindert
sind, die uns zugedachte Gabe zur Einweihung des neuen Tempels uns
vollständig zukommen zu lassen, indessen freuen wir uns auch
auf den zu erwartenden Psalm und werden für eine würdige
Aufführung Sorge tragen. Um die Einübung gehörig
vornehmen zu können, müssen wir die Composition
spätestens in der Mitte des Mai’n Monats erhalten. In
dieser Erwartung bitten wir Sie um Nachsicht, daβ wir Ihre
gehäufte Beschäftigung noch vermehren und hoffen, in dem
Zwecke, so wie in Ihrer gütigen Bereitwilligkeit eine
entschuldigende Fürsprache zu finden.
Für Ihre freundliche Mittheilung über den
jungen Naumann empfangen Sie meinen verbindlichen Dank.
Mit aufrichtger Verehrung und Ergebenheit.
|
Dr. M. Fraenkel
|
|
Präses der Direction des Tempelvereins
|
Torna al testo
Appendix 2: English
Translation of the Complete Existing Correspondence Between
Mendelssohn and Dr. Maimon Fränkel (November 14, 1843-April
12, 1844)
GB XVIII, 185
Honorable,
Well-born Sir,
The new Israelite Temple, itself an institution,
which recently celebrated its 25th year of existence and
which is nearing the point of having solidly incorporated-true
music into complete Jewish religious services conducted here partly
in German and partly in Hebrew through the introduction of
chorales, organ playing, and its own extended compositions, has the
goal of achieving considerable progress through the addition of a
large vocal piece at the forthcoming inauguration of its new larger
location.
On this occasion, the temple ventures to turn to you
in order to solicit your kind cooperation. Your sublime talent is
too much the public property of the whole fatherland and the name
Mendelssohn is still, especially to all German Israelites, - too
dear that we might abandon - the happy prospect of seeing you
undertake the composition of a few of these pieces at our humblest
request.
Allow us to hereby remark that the Jewish liturgy is
very rich in emotive expression, in incisive images; indeed, so to
speak, in dramatic situations, which offer the composer a welcome
field that has - still hardly been treated. Similarly, on the other
hand, our congregation is on the average rather receptive to music
and to the elevated general sense of beauty which is achieved
through music even when they are not yet generally as musically
educated as they will hopefully later be by participating in the
planned perfection.
In now looking forward to your most gracious reply,
we reserve the right to indicate to you at the assignment of the
pieces, of which a few would possibly be Hebrew, more information
about the temple’s musical strengths, the necessary duration,
etc.
With complete admiration
Completely and most humbly
Dr. M. Fraenkel
President of the Temple Administration
Hamburg
14 Nov 1843
GBXIX, 15
Well born
Honorable Sir,
Please receive the most grateful thanks from the
administration of the new temple society for your gracious
willingness to consider our wishes. We will also highly respect
your partial realization of these wishes and we will gladly use
whatever Psalm-Compositions that you care to share with us and are
usable in our service. I have taken the liberty of sending you our
songbook, where you find a list of set psalms used in our service.
We do possess melodies for all of the numbers in this book, however
they are of very different value: among very promising ones one
finds many average ones and more than a few completely unusable
ones.
First of all we will take the liberty of drawing your
attention particularly to the 24th, 84th and
100th psalms; especially the composition of a
Meister for these psalms would be most desirable to us. Our
new temple building is supposed to be consecrated namely at
Pentecost of this year and the aforesaid psalms seem most suitable
for this holiday; they would not, however, be put aside as
occasional pieces after a single performance; rather, they would be
added to the little treasure of our best temple melodies for
regular usage.
We have a choir of 16 boys for the regular service.
We could however count on the cooperation of at least 40 women and
men (of Jewish and Christian faiths) for exceptional performances,
as was the case last Oct. 18th, when a cantata by a
young local composer was performed for the 25th year
anniversary of the temple. The first two named psalms (24 and 84)
should be treated as a cantata. Should they be composed in a
literal translation, then the translation of your Blessed
Grandfather (of renowned memory!) would be recommended as the
basis; you are however fully at liberty to use some poetic version
of these psalms. Thus the setting of them as cantatas is also left
to your judgment and we would only suggest a framework if you
desired. I must here add the restrictive remark that the
accompaniment would have to be without orchestra and for the organ
alone. This was recently also the case with the above-mentioned
cantata, and experts found the performance praiseworthy in this
respect as well. The soon to be consecrated temple received a new
rather large organ, which is now being built here. If you wish to
provide us with the joy of consecrating our house of God with your
compositions, then we must have them by Easter at the latest. Your
quick response with which you honored our first reply encourages us
to bother you with the request that you might kindly let us know
whether or not we may expect the desired compositions from you.
Please grant the repeated assurance of our excellent
esteem and devotion.
Dr. Fraenkel
President of the Direction of the Temple Society
Hamburg, January 8, 1844
GB XIX, 48
Most esteemed Sir,
In reply to your honorable letter of the
12th of the month, it pleases me to be able to say that
we are happy to reply to your wishes in order to get the commitment
upon which hopes have been based. The unusual aspect of an
orchestral accompaniment in the temple certainly finds, however,
its perfect balance and justification in the extraordinary act of
the consecration and we still have the special advantage of
expecting a more complete effect of the composition. Also we are
not against the use of the Lutheran translation of the psalms, when
the harshness and errors in them are avoided, as is noted with
regard to the psalms in question on the inserted sheet, which you
will certainly approve.
We have already stated our wish to see the named
psalms set as cantatas for the purpose of consecration. This wish
would be completely fulfilled if it were possible to fuse these
psalms into one whole. This remains however completely at your
discretion, as does the use of a fully unmetrical translation or a
simple rhythmic translation or a wholly strophic treatment as with
Neukomm’s Ostermorgen. Should you find it appropriate to
compose Ps. 24, 84 for orchestra and the 100th for
singing voice alone, then one would expect the performance to be a
great success.
Since the opening of the temple will not take place
until after Whitsun, it would not be necessary that we receive the
composition before May.
Now that all possible hindrances appear to have been
eliminated, we gladly hope to see the consecration of our new house
of God glorified through your composition and wish that the
Almighty will grant you enduring health and a cheerful mood.
With extraordinary admiration and devotion,
Dr. Fraenkel
Hamburg, 21 January 1844
GB XIX, 192
Well born,
Honorable Sir,
I would have liked to wait in silence until you
fulfilled your kind promise, but the circumstances require me to
bother you once again with a letter—which you will hopefully
excuse. After your letter of the first of Feb., we may undoubtedly
expect psalm 24 from you; you could not offer a definite acceptance
with regard to the composition of both of the other indicated
psalms. Might this perhaps now be possible for you? The
consecration of the new temple should take place on one evening and
constitute a complete act; in this case one psalm would not be
sufficient. It would be most pleasing to us if your leisure were to
permit you (your muse certainly will) to satisfy our wish
completely. Should you however really be hindered from sharing more
than one psalm with us, then we would have to contemplate obtaining
a supplement from elsewhere before its too late, in which case your
advice would be very welcome.
Now that I "have already begun to speak," I take the
liberty of formulating yet another plea. Emil Naumann, the son of
Prof. N from Bonn, is pursuing his musical training under your
direction, as I’ve gathered from his mother, my friend for
many years. The young musician’s talents, which have been
extolled as excellent and your influence give ground for hopeful
expectations. In the interest, which I have taken in the young
man’s parents, I allow myself to ask whether or not he really
lives up to the expectations he has aroused, and whether he offers
the prospect of glorifying his grandfather’s name with
rejuvenated fame? Your written evidence to Frau Prof. Naumann
justifies this hope; however, observing the path that excellent
powers have to trod until they reach just development, one is
reassured only by an Isthmian victory,[32] or by the
authoritative call of the chosen few: Macte virtute!
I would be grateful if you had the kindness to say a
few words on this subject.
As I wish for a friendly opening of my letter, I
remain with sincere respect and loyalty,
yours
Dr. Fraenkel
Hamburg, 29 March 1844
GB XIX, 223 [April 12, 1844]
Honorable Sir,
In reply to your esteemed letter from the
8th of the month, I must feel heartfelt regret, however,
that you are hindered from sending us the entire intended gift for
the consecration of the new temple. Meanwhile we look forward to
the expected psalm and we will attend to a worthy performance. In
order to properly see to the rehearsals, we must receive the
composition by the middle of May at the latest. In this
expectation, we ask for your forbearance that we might yet increase
your heaping workload, and hope in the purpose and your kind
willingness to find a pardonable plea.
For your friendly communication on the young Naumann,
please receive my deepest thanks.
With sincere veneration and devotion.
Dr. M. Fraenkel
President of the Direction of the Temple Society
Torna al testo
Appendix 3: Psalm 100
(Die Bibel 1545, German translation by Martin Luther)
- Ein Dankpsalm
Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt.
- Dient dem Herrn mit Freuden, kommt vor sein Angesicht mit
Frohlocken.
- Erkennt, daβ der Herr Gott ist. Er hat uns gemacht, und
nicht wir selbst, zu seinem Volk, und zu Schafen seiner Weide.
- Gehe zu seinen Thoren ein mit Danken, zu seinen Vorhöfen
mit Loben; danket ihm, lobet seinen Namen.
- Denn der Herr ist freundlich, und seine Gnade währet ewig,
und seine Wahrheit für und für.
Torna al testo
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________________________
[Bio] Lily E.
Hirsch is a Ph.D. candidate in the Duke University Department of
Music. She is currently in Berlin thanks to a Deutscher
Akademischer Austausch Dienst Doctoral Fellowship, completing her
dissertation research on the Jüdischer Kulturbund and Musical
Politics in Nazi Germany.
* This article could not
have been written without the guidance of R. Larry Todd, the
careful inspection of the transcription of the letters by Peter
Ward Jones, who has access to the original letters at the Bodleian
Library, and the corrections made to the English translation by
Peter McIsaac.
[1] Eric Werner,
“Felix Mendelssohn’s Commissioned Composition for the
Hamburg Temple: The 100th Psalm (1844),”
Musica Judaica 7/1 (1984-1985), p.57.
[2] R. Larry Todd,
Mendelssohn: A Life in Music (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2003), p.469. See also “On Mendelssohn’s Sacred
music, Real and Imaginary,” in The Cambridge Companion to
Mendelssohn, edited by Peter Merce-Taylor (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004), pp.167-188.
[3] Michael A. Meyer,
Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in
Judaism (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988),
p.54.
[4] Rather than synagogue,
the new place of worship was called Temple in keeping with the
ideals of Reform Judaism, which rejected the Orthodox belief in the
reappearance of the Temple in Jerusalem upon the Messiah’s
arrival. “Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or
Persecution of Jews in Hamburg” http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035/brunnenstrasse.html
(accessed March 23, 2004). Refer also to Andreas Brämer,
Judentum und Religiöse Reform: Der Hamburger Israelitische
Tempel 1817-1938 (Hamburg: Dölling and Galitz Verlag,
2000), pp.10-69.
[5] Meyer, op.cit.,
p.57.
[6] Sigismund Ritter von
Neukomm (1778-1858) was an Austrian composer, pianist, and scholar.
He wrote Der Ostermorgen, a cantata for three soloists,
chorus and orchestra, in 1823. In the autobiographical sketch
included in Rudolph Angermüller’s Sigismund Neukomm:
Werkverzeichnis, Autobiographie, Beziehung zu seinen
Zeitgenossen, Neukomm explains, “Am 27. Mai 1828 beendete
ich meinen ‘Ostermorgen.’ Ich erwähne dieses Werk
nur, weil es dem Andenken der Herzogin [Dorothea] von Kurland,
einer meiner gütigen Gönnerinnen als Zeichen meiner
Dankbarkeit gewidmet war. Dieses Werk hat sich trotz seiner
geringen Bedeutung schnell verbreitet.” Rudolph
Angermüller, Sigismund Neukomm: Werkverzeichnis,
Autobiographie, Beziehung zu seinen Zeitgenossen
(München-Salzburg: Musikverlag Emil Katzbichler, 1977),
p.40.
[7] Emil Naumann
(1827-1888) was a composer and music historian, whom Mendelssohn
helped as a student. In 1839, Emil Naumann’s parents asked
Mendelssohn to supervise their son’s musical development.
Naumann was only 12 years old at the time, however, and Mendelssohn
suggested serious study only later under the tutelage of Moritz
Hauptmann. In autumn 1842, Naumann began his studies with Hauptmann
at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Mendelssohn was able to continue
to follow the young man’s progress, and help him financially.
Clive Brown, A Portrait of Mendelssohn (New Haven and
London: Yale University, 2003), p.269. For more information on
Mendelssohn’s involvement with Emil Naumann in Leipzig, refer
to Naumann’s “Erinnerungen,” Neue Berliner
Musikzeitung 3 (1865), pp.353-355 and 361-362.
[8] The consecration
festivities eventually took place in September 1844. Brämer,
op.cit., p.44.
[9] Quoted in Brown,
op.cit., p.166.
[10] Mendelssohn
describes his meeting with the King in a letter to Carl Klingemann
of November 23, 1842. Karl Klingemann, Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdys Briefwechsel mit Legationsrat Karl Kligemann
in London (Essen: G.D. Baedeker, 1909), pp.273-277.
[11] David Brodbeck,
“A winter of discontent: Mendelssohn and the Berliner
Domchor,” in Mendelssohn Studies, ed. R. Larry
Todd (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 1.
[12] David E.
Barclay, Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy
1840-1861 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), p.85.
[13] Emil Naumann,
preface to Musica Sacra, volume 8, ed. Emil Naumann (Berlin:
Bote & Bock, 1855).
[14] This emphasis
on the role of the congregation in the revised liturgy amended the
Prussian Agende of 1829, which only allowed the congregation to
participate in the singing of a few chorales. Brodbeck, op.cit.,
p.6 and p.11.
[15] “Da
geschah der erste Schritt auf das von Sr. Majestät dem
Könige fest in’s Auge gefasste Ziel zu: Felix
Mendelssohn, in dem evangelisches Christenthum lebendig waltete und
wirkte, ward berufen eine Form für den Psalmengesang zu
erschaffen, bei der einerseits eine Betheiligung der Gemeinden
möglich, andererseits aber doch auch die Kunst zu ihrer vollen
Wirkung gelange . . . Wir besitzen zwar nur die 2ten, 22sten, 43ten
und 100stn Psalm in dieser Weise von ihm komponiert . . .”
Emil Naumann, foreword to Musica Sacra, op.cit.
[16] Felix
Mendelssohn did believe in a modern version of Judaism; however, it
was not analogous to Reform Judaism, but rather a rational response
to modern religious identity. Botstein explains,
“Mendelssohn’s personal construct of Protestant
Christianity was designed to fit a crucial criterion—that it
be the modern moral equivalent and logical outcome of Judaism . . .
In Mendelssohn’s view, Judaism was not rejected, hidden, or
denied, but transfigured and modernized into Protestantism.”
Leon Botstein, “Mendelssohn and the Jews,” Musical
Quarterly 82/1 (Spring 1998), p.213.
[17] In fact, in
addition to setting two psalms in Mendelssohn’s translation,
in 1828, Franz Schubert actually set Psalm 92 (Tov L’Hodot or
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord”) to the Hebrew
text. Elaine Brody, “Schubert and Sulzer revisited: a
recapitulation of the events leading to Schubert’s setting in
Hebrew of Psalm XCII, D 953,” in Schubert Studies:
Problems of style and chronology, ed. Eva Badura-Skoda and
Peter Branscombe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982),
pp.47-60.
[18] Georg Feder,
“On Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Sacred Music,”
in The Mendelssohn Companion, ed. Douglass Seaton (Westport,
Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press, 2001), p.269
[19] Ulrich Leupold,
Die liturgischen Gesänge der evangelischen Kirche im
Zeitalter der Aufklärung und der Romantik (Kassel:
Bärenreiter-Verlag, 1933), p.145.
[20] David Brodbeck,
foreword to Felix Mendelssohn: Drei Psalmen, op. 78, ed.
David Brodbeck (Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag, 1998), p.vii. Refer also
to James Garratt, Palestrina and the German Romantic
Imagination: Interpreting Historicism in Nineteenth-Century
Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002),
pp.84-93.
[21] Quoted in
Brodbeck, op.cit., p.23. This goal grew out of the Lutheran and
Calvinist emphasis on music, and especially psalm singing and
worship as a means of edification. In Naumann’s foreword to
Musica Sacra, he explains that the clear declamatory style
of Psalms 100, 2, 22, and 43 allowed the community to know and
understand the words of the Bible. Naumann, op.cit.
[22] The three
sections described are unified by a plagal progression (C
major/I—F major/IV—C major/I), traditionally sung to
the word amen at the end of Protestant hymns. This progression is
also emphasized in the A section in bars 17-21, when d minor is
tonicized as a pivot to F major in bar 21 before the return to C
major to close the section. Mendelssohn’s use of the
progression further links the psalm to the Protestant
tradition.
[23] Quoted in
Wolfgang Dinglinger, “Ein neues Lied—Der
Preuβische Generalmusikdirektor und eine königliche
Auftragskomposition,” in Mendelssohn Studies, vol. 5,
ed. Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel and Rudolf Elvers (Berlin: Duncker
and Humboldt, 1982), p.107.
[24] Garratt,
op.cit., p.86. Garratt also connects Mendelssohn’s Sechs
Sprüche, op. 79 to this revival and describes the
root-position chord repetition present both in the psalm settings
and the second anthem, “Herr Gott, du bist unsre
Zuflucht,” performed at the Cathedral on New Year’s Day
1844, as reminiscent of falsobordone (ibid., pp.88-89).
[25] Dinglinger,
op.cit., p.107.
[26] Brodbeck,
op.cit., pp.20-21.
[27] On February 15,
1844, Mendelssohn attempted to terminate his involvement in this
project, “no doubt wary of its scope and tiring of the
restricted a cappella medium” (Todd, op.cit., p.469).
Mendelssohn’s ennui may have been a factor in his reluctance
to compose additional psalm settings without orchestration for the
Hamburg Temple.
[28] The designation
GB, which appears at the top of these five letters, refers to the
Grüne Bücher (Green Books) in which letters received by
Mendelssohn from 1821 until 1847 were collected and catalogued,
including the five letters from Fränkel (GB XVIII, 185, GB
XIX, 15, GB XIX, 48, GB XIX, 192, and GB XIX, 223). For more
information about the history and contents of the Green Books, held
at the Bodleian Library, refer to Margaret Crum, ed., Catalogue
of the Mendelssohn Papers in the Bodleian Library (Tutzing:
Hans Schneider, 1980).
[29] Originally
“übernehmen” stood here, but it was lightly
crossed out and enclosed in parentheses.
[30] There is a play
on words in this line with the use of both Muβe and Muse.
[31] This word is
difficult to decipher definitively. Peter Ward Jones inspected the
original letters and concluded that although there is a dot in the
original letter, it appears to be accidental rather than signifying
an ‘I’.
[32] This is a
reference to Pindar’s victory odes, which celebrated the
triumphs of athletes at events such as the Isthmian Games.
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