Introduction

XXIX Introduction The volume of “Minor Stage Works” from the Complete Edition a number of times,4 revised5 and printed in collected editions contains all the works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy that can of Florian’s works well into the 19th century.6 It is not known be attributed to a genre of musical drama, with the exception of which concrete textual source the young Mendelssohn had the Singspiele of his childhood and adolescent years, the opera at his disposal. The writings of Florian, whose celebrity was fragment Lorelei MWV L 7 and the large-scale incidental works founded mostly upon fables and novels, provided beloved read- of the 1840s which he wrote for King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.1 ing matter in the Francophile Mendelssohn home, especially in Also included are arrangements of individual movements. The the early 1820s. The children took French lessons7 and Fanny term “stage work” is to be understood in a more broadly en- Mendelssohn set to music no fewer than eleven songs on texts compassing sense here, since a stage performance cannot be by Florian between March and June 1820.8 Her brother Felix ascertained in each case; also, the texts and music written for also penned his first solo song on a text by this author9 before these pieces hover in undefined areas between concert and stage he came across Blanche et Vermeille. It remains a matter of spec- performances. In addition, we are dealing here with works of ulation whether his attention was drawn to the libretto or to the highly varying scorings, characters and dimensions. The “stage” aforementioned music by Rigel.10 for the first works was the salon of the Mendelssohn family The sprightly piece takes place in the pastoral world of shep- home, where smaller pieces were regularly performed as staged herds so popular in the 18th century. At the heart of the story is or semi-staged events for Christmas feast days, birthdays and the love of Blanche and Vermeille, two sisters who, after much other family occasions. This is the atmosphere in which young emotional turmoil, find their way back to their swains Lubin Felix grew up: having attended such festivities, he soon aspired and Colin, whom they finally marry.11 In his musical setting, to take an active part in them with his own works. The present eleven-year-old Felix limited himself to the beginning of the volume contains several fragments from his childhood days, a play; extant are one complete movement and the beginning of a festive play for the Berlin author Gustav Julius printed in 1833, further scene. Mendelssohn fused the text of the first scene and four incidental works for the Düsseldorf Theater written be- the opening of the second scene into one single movement. The tween 1833 and 1835, and an occasional piece for the Leipzig first scene introduces Vermeille, alone at her spinning-wheel, Theater (1839). singing an ariette in which she expresses her feelings for Lubin. This is followed by a duet in which Lubin appears and declares his love for Vermeille. In the 3rd scene the two sisters Blanche MWV M 1 and Vermeille chat about their emotional restiveness, whereby Fragment with a French Text Blanche avows that she is no longer in love with Colin, but with a prince. The librettist had planned a further ariette in Mendelssohn launched this work group in March 1820 and this scene, “L’autre jour, au fond du bois.” It was most likely for chose for his debut piece the text of a French “comédie pasto- this ariette that Mendelssohn notated the first measures. The rale,” Blanche et Vermeille by the successful and well-known au- musical setting called for three solo woodwinds (two oboes, one thor Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794). His comedy,2 bassoon) and stringed instruments. However, the music breaks written in 1780/1781, was given its premiere at the Comédie off after only eight measures, before the entrance of the solo Italienne in Paris on 5 March 1781 with music by Henri- Joseph part, which precludes any decisive claim about Blanche’s voice Rigel (1741–1799).3 Blanche et Vermeille was then performed range and the projected text. 1 See Series V, Vols. 1-10 of this edition, as well as Vol. 12 for the fragment of the opera Lorelei MWV L 7. 2 On the origins and early reception of the piece see Michel Cointat, Florian 1755–1794, Aspects méconnus de l’auteur de Plaisir d’amour, Paris, 2007 (hereafter: Cointat, Florian), pp. 176–177. 3 Nicole Wild / David Charlton, Théâtre de l’Opéra-Comique Paris, Répertoire 1762–1972, Sprimont, 2005, pp. 47 and 165. 4 Eleven times in 1781 alone; see Cointat, Florian [note 2], p. 177. 5 A two-act version arose from the original three-acter. 6 Florian’s works, which were published in ever new print-runs, were also diffused outside of France. Of particular importance is the 16-volume Complete Edition prepared in 1820 by Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765–1853). Even in the mid 19th century, Louis Lacour devoted a long lexicon article on Florian; see Nouvelle Biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, publiée par MM. Firmin Didot frères sous la direction de M. le Dr Hoefer, Vol. 17, Paris, 1856, cols. 952–955. 7 Mendelssohn’s first surviving letter (dated 18 August 1817) to Karl von Stein (1800–1871) was written in French. 8 Renate Hellwig-Unruh, Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Thematisches Verzeichnis der Kompositionen, Adliswil/Lottstetten, 2000, pp. 82–90. 9 Pauvre Jeanette, in Übungsbuch bei Zelter MWV Z 1, no. 43. 10 As to Rigel, the fundamental gesture of the scene in question, with its lyrical, rocking character, is unequivocally predetermined. Rigel had his work published in the two-act version by Lauriers in Paris. A copy is located in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv (hereafter: D-B), Mus Mb 32. In this copy, the dedication “dédiée à Monsieur le Cavalier de Florian” on the title page was removed; added here after information from: David J. Buch, Magic Flutes & Enchanted Forests: The Supernatural in Eighteenth-Century Musical Theater, Chicago, 2008, p. 412. 11 A more detailed summary of the contents of the work can be found in: Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, adressée à un souverain d’Alle- magne, depuis 1770 jusqu’en 1782, par le Baron de Grimm et par Diderot, Paris, 1812, Vol. 5, pp. 274–275. XXX MWV M 2 1820, as the Fragment MWV M 2 interestingly shows. While An Excerpt from the Mendelssohn Family History the action continues to unfold, Abraham and his brother are still arguing over whether Spontini is a good composer. Then a It was clearly a child’s hand that inscribed the title Lustspiel in stranger appears on stage, an unknown artist inquiring among 3 Scenen above a fragment that was written in summer 1820. various bank employees to help him find the managing direc- The action takes place at the Mendelssohn family’s banking in- tors, in order to ask them for permission to give a concert. Sud- stitute; the protagonists are the composer’s father and uncle, denly the dispute is forgotten and the two Mendelssohns are Abraham and Joseph Mendelssohn. Since the latter was cele- once again one heart and one mind – in their vociferous rejec- brating his 50th birthday on 11 August 1820, it cannot be ex- tion of this impertinent request: “Another one of his ilk! Begone cluded that this major family event gave Felix the idea for this with you, or you will raise my ire. Away, away, away, away.” compositional essay.12 Since 1804, the two brothers had headed The diva – to whom Mendelssohn assigned a dramatic soprano a bank institute that bore their names: “J. & A. Mendelssohn.”13 voice – replies with a brief but spectacular vengeance aria that The eleven-year-old began the comedy with irrefutable logic by recalls both Mozart’s Queen of the Night and the grand arias setting these semi-abbreviated names to music: “I, J. Mendel- of Spontini’s operas. The 11-year-old boy seems to have had sohn” (tenor), “I, A. Mendelssohn” (bass); while at the same a very clear-cut idea of the sound he wanted to produce with time whimsically experimenting with various ways of spelling this aria. Though he was absolutely right when it came to the their names.14 Whereas the brothers were totally of one mind in physical gestures of a bravura aria, he did not yet command the professional matters, they soon began arguing about good taste notational skills to insert the many coloraturas with metrical in music. The reason why Joseph Mendelssohn was reproached precision in the score. The following scene plays out in the bank for being unmusical15 was that the two brothers could not see offices, where the employees, who build a small chorus, are dis- eye to eye about the composer Gaspare Spontini (1774–1851), turbed by the inconsiderate behavior of Herr Jordan, who not who descended upon Berlin in 1820 as Royal Prussian General only warbles loudly to himself, but also wants to smoke as well: Music Director and immediately made his musical presence “I do as I please, no one can stop me.” It is not known whether felt with his operas. TheOlimpie mentioned in Mendelssohn’s the appearance of Jordan’s colleague Emden helps smooth the Fragment had been premiered on 20 December 1819 in Paris, ruffled feathers, since the scene breaks off after 53 measures in where the Mendelssohn brothers must have heard the work, for the midst of an accolade with his words: “Quiet, quiet, here’s it was not until 1821 that it was it placed on the program of some more tea, who would like some?” Hints concerning the the Royal Opera.

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