Auction 83 - Part I - Rare and Important Items
Memorandum Signed by Felix Mendelssohn – Copyright for Musical Score to Psalms 114: "When Israel out of Egypt came..." – London, 1840 – Drafted between him and the English Music Publisher Joseph Alfred Novello
Opening: $3,000
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000
Sold for: $4,250
Including buyer's premium
Memorandum [of understanding] transferring copyright privileges for one of Felix Mendelssohn's works – his musical score to Psalms 114 ("When Israel out of Egypt came...") to the music publisher Joseph Alfred Novello. Signed by Felix Mendelssohn. London, September 29, 1840. English.
Official form, printed and filled in handwriting, declaring that Felix Mendelssohn has received from the music publisher Joseph Alfred Novello the sum of fifteen guineas (British currency in the form of gold coins, removed from circulation in the early 19th century, but remaining in use as a unit of account for "aristocratic" purchases, i.e., works of art, objects of value, horses, land) as payment for the copyright privileges to the melody Mendelssohn composed for Psalms 114. Signed "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy".
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), composer, grandson of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, among the greatest composers of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn composed seven musical scores for chapters of Psalms. Though raised and educated as a Christian – and despite the fact he had composed no shortage of music with themes and styles characteristic of Christian Europe – his melodies for Psalms were regarded as "Jewish" in nature. That is especially true of the present work, with respect to which the musicologist George Grove (author and editor of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians) states that "the Jewish blood of Mendelssohn must surely for once have beat fiercely over this picture of the great triumph of his forefathers" (George Grove, "Dictionary of Music and Musicians, " London, 1890, Vol. II, p. 304).
Joseph Alfred Novello (1810-1896), eldest child of the composer and organist Vincent Novello. Among the foremost printers and publishers of musical scores in the 19th century. Under his guiding hand, the publishing company established by his father, Novello & Co., developed into a predominant power in the music world of that period; it was the first to introduce affordable sheet music and to depart from the method of publishing by subscription. Conducted a longstanding correspondence with Felix Mendelssohn, and printed musical scores to his works.
[1] f. (sheet folded in half), 33.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Minor tears to fold lines. Minor stains. In new binding with gilt title imprinted on spine, and with new endpapers of high-quality paper. Minor blemishes to binding.
Official form, printed and filled in handwriting, declaring that Felix Mendelssohn has received from the music publisher Joseph Alfred Novello the sum of fifteen guineas (British currency in the form of gold coins, removed from circulation in the early 19th century, but remaining in use as a unit of account for "aristocratic" purchases, i.e., works of art, objects of value, horses, land) as payment for the copyright privileges to the melody Mendelssohn composed for Psalms 114. Signed "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy".
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), composer, grandson of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, among the greatest composers of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn composed seven musical scores for chapters of Psalms. Though raised and educated as a Christian – and despite the fact he had composed no shortage of music with themes and styles characteristic of Christian Europe – his melodies for Psalms were regarded as "Jewish" in nature. That is especially true of the present work, with respect to which the musicologist George Grove (author and editor of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians) states that "the Jewish blood of Mendelssohn must surely for once have beat fiercely over this picture of the great triumph of his forefathers" (George Grove, "Dictionary of Music and Musicians, " London, 1890, Vol. II, p. 304).
Joseph Alfred Novello (1810-1896), eldest child of the composer and organist Vincent Novello. Among the foremost printers and publishers of musical scores in the 19th century. Under his guiding hand, the publishing company established by his father, Novello & Co., developed into a predominant power in the music world of that period; it was the first to introduce affordable sheet music and to depart from the method of publishing by subscription. Conducted a longstanding correspondence with Felix Mendelssohn, and printed musical scores to his works.
[1] f. (sheet folded in half), 33.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Minor tears to fold lines. Minor stains. In new binding with gilt title imprinted on spine, and with new endpapers of high-quality paper. Minor blemishes to binding.
Manuscripts, Letters and Documents – Music, Research, Religion and Science
Manuscripts, Letters and Documents – Music, Research, Religion and Science