Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-07
Music and Musical Notes

I first came to Leipzig and thought ] was In
Paradise" And little wonder, for he was
said to be the idol of the town. he had a
splendid orchestra o. DEVOTED Followers, a
concert-master who was strictly EN- rapport,
Herr David; a business manager and sup
porter in Herr. schlentiz, who relieved him
of every unpleasant task. He was made
Phi. Doc. by the University OF Leipzig in
1884.
Now came q very important visit to
Frankfort, where he conducted the Caeci-
lien Verein for Schelble, who IL i'll. Hitler
was here and so was Rossini, who was
much in the company of Mendelssohn, But
there was one OF much more Importance
than either Of these.
Cecile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud. This
was the name which was to go down into
posterlty as the beloved wife Of Mendels-
sohn, lie was madly in love with her, and
even went away to S~chevenlgen, the ia
nous bathing resort, In order to test his
affection for her. 1t was a success and in
September they were betrothed. And on
March. %, 1887, they were married. She
was the daughter of a minister Of the
French Reformed church. And the man
whose wedding march has Ia happy
I thousands of young hearts was married
when he was Is, and when his wife was
IS.
The next years, 1899 and 1910, were de-
voted largely to Leipzig, many concerts
taking place, and some of moment indeed.
The "Lobgesang,' or hymn of praise was
written for the Festival in Commeroration
OF the Invention Of Printing. held in Leip-
zig June. 1870,
After much celebration he went to Ber-
lin again as k~apellmeister to the king OF
Prussia and began to work on a revival
OF Greek tragedies. In January, 1912 (he is
now nearing his SD birthday. he tried a
series of concerts at the kings command,
but the orchestra Was unsympsthetic and
the audiences were cold. But nevertheless
he completed his Scotch symphony, In this
year he conducted again the Dusseldorf
festival, went to London with his wife, was
Toasted and feted by the philharmonic
which he conducted; visited twice at Buck
lngham palace, where the late Queen Vic
toria and the prince consort showed their
thorough appreciation of the composer.
In lsi3 the C-onservatorium at LaipEig,
which was one OF Mendelssohn's cherished
ideas, actually msterialized, It was called
the Music School" Schumann was chosen
by Mendelssohn as one Of the teachers,
One of the boys who came To that school
from Vienna, at the age OF Il, was Joseph
Joachim. and Il was the beginning Of a
great friendship.
CA year ago last summer the present
writer stood bareheaded among thousands
of others in respect to the memory of the
great Joseph Joachim, whose funeral pro-
cession was passing, and later In the week
he stood with uncovered head at the grave
Of Mendelssohn. Truly "they rest from
their labors and their works do follow
them" What they have left for us today
TO carry on we must do regardless of the
sneer Of the materialist, the opposition oil
the ignorant, or the abuse of false ac-
cusers)
In 1874 a most interesting sidelight Il
seen on Msndelssohn's disposition. He wal
to conduct the London Philharmonic for
some concerts and he brought over amongst
other things schubert's Symphony In c
and Gade's in c-minor, as well as his 0wr
"Ruy Bias" overture. But the orchestra
was so indifferent TO the first two works
that he was very angry and he declined tc
|, produce his own overture. which was not
played In London until after his death.
In 1876 the work on Elijah" was fasI
producing results and on August Is In,
work was first presented IN Birmingham
England. II was afterward largely revised
and altered. and one notable alteration wa,
the changing of the duet Lift Thine Eyes
into the trio form in which we know Il
today.
? In the winter OF the same year Mendels
sohn was greatly distressed by the Hines,
and death of his faithful servant. johann
Krebs. ''mein brave gutter Diener." How.