Chapter V: “elijah.”

The London season was now at the zenith of its brilliancy, but its successes did not make Mdlle. Lind forget her friends in Germany. In the midst of the general excitement, she wrote to Frau von Kaulbach:—

“London, July 10, 1848.

“It was very hard indeed for me to take upon myself, for this year
also, the frightful responsibility of supporting the Opera, here. But
it was my duty to do so; for it rested with me, whether Lumley should
be ruined, and the whole theatre fall to the ground, or not; and the
public rewards me in so many ways, and shows me so much attention,
that I have nothing to regret.

“I go, this year also, to the (English) provinces; but then I shall
have done, and shall leave the _grande carrière_ behind me, and shall
only work in Sweden for my pleasure—that is, for my School.

“There you have pretty nearly all that I shall undertake. If anything
very important should happen, I will be sure to tell you; but, till
then, believe nothing—and, before all things, do not believe that I
have a bad heart. I hope I have grown better; for, since I saw you, I
have passed through many things, and have not been without
temptations. What reason have I to be vain now that I had not before?”

As the season drew near its close, she wrote to her guardian, Judge Munthe, a noteworthy letter, in which she gave the first hint in writing of a project no less weighty in its bearing upon Art than her scheme for the completion of the Brompton Hospital was in its relation to Charity:—

“Clairville Cottage, Old Brompton, Aug. 14, 1848.

“I am going to sing a few times more this year, and therefore I shall
not have done with London before the 24th inst.

“We go to the provinces on the 4th of September, and begin by a
concert in Birmingham on the 5th. On my return to London I intend to
give, in conjunction with many others, a grand concert for the
foundation of a School of Music in memory of Mendelssohn, the object
of which will be to receive pupils of all nations and promote their
musical training; and we have chosen his last work, _Elijah_, to
illustrate it. If this enterprise proves successful I shall be very
glad and happy. If I do not come home this autumn, I intend to work in
Germany, for this purpose, part of next winter.”

Truly, there were schemes enough in contemplation, and but little unoccupied time at command for the elaboration of their details.

Her Majesty’s Theatre closed, for the season of 1848, on the 26th of August, with a concert for the benefit of the Chorus; and a few days afterwards, Mdlle. Lind started in company with Mons. Roger, the great French tenor, Signor Belletti, Signor Frederic Lablache, and some other artists of less celebrity, on a provincial tour of a more decidedly dramatic character than that which she had undertaken in 1847.

She left London on the 4th of September, on which day she wrote to her friend, Madame Wichmann:—

“Clairville, September 4, 1848.

“I was not a little astonished, when I received your last letter from
Interlaken. I was as happy as a Queen, to know that you are now
leaving Berlin. My heart bounds with joy, when I think of meeting you
in Italy, or elsewhere. Perhaps our long-cherished idea may be
realised, after all.

“I have many plans in my head, and, in case rest should again be
denied me, I may still have to go on working for a longer time.

“To-day, I begin by going to the English provinces, for two, or
perhaps three months. After that begins a matter about which I will
tell you.

“I wish, in conjunction with one of Mendelssohn’s most intimate
friends, to contribute something towards a Music School in his memory;
and, for this purpose, I propose, in the month of November, to give a
grand concert in London. But I hope, in any case, to have finished all
by the new year at the latest.”

The tour began with a concert at Birmingham, on the 5th of September, followed by one at Liverpool, on the 7th, and performances of _Lucia_ and _La Sonnambula_, at Manchester, on the 9th and 11th. Mdlle. Lind also sang in _La Sonnambula_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, _I Puritani_, and _La Figlia del Reggimento_, at Manchester, Hull, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, and Brighton; and gave concerts, with scarcely less success, in almost every place of any great importance in England.

The entry in Mdlle. Lind’s engagement-book of the performance of _La Figlia del Reggimento_ at Brighton, on the 3rd of November, is followed by eight notes of exclamation—“Brighton. Regimentets Dotter!!!!!!!!”—and a thick black line is drawn across the page, beneath the entry, evidently intimating that she intended this to be her last appearance on the Stage—as it really would have been, but for the six supplementary performances to be hereafter noticed.

The meaning of this entry in the _Annotations-Bok_ is corroborated, in a very remarkable manner, by a passage in the diary of Mons. Roger, the great French Artist who sang with Mdlle. Lind throughout her last dramatic tour. The entry runs thus:—

“Friday, Nov. 3. _La Figlia del Reggimento._—A greater crowd, and
greater heat, than at _La Sonnambula_. In the last Act, during the
_ritournelle_ of the _Rondo Finale_, Lind said to me under her breath,
‘Mark this well, Roger, these are the last notes that you will hear me
sing on the Stage.’—I stood stupefied.

“Is it true? Is her career finished? At the apogee of her success does
she renounce the Stage! There is no time for me to ask her for an
explanation—she sings—the public, enchanted, applauds—it knows not
that it is losing her;—and then, it is my turn to sing, and I must put
on a happy air, since I am to espouse her—but, in truth, my heart was
distressed.”[121]

On the 4th of December, Mdlle. Lind gave a concert, at Leeds, for the Orchestra which accompanied her, realising £640 for division among its members. Mrs. Grote has left us, in her Note-book, a graphic account of the events that took place at this period.

“Her progress in the provinces,” she says, “was extraordinary; for the
intense interest and admiration she excited in the various cities she
visited, and the passionate eagerness to get even a glimpse of her, as
evinced by the middle and lower classes, were truly marvellous.

“Early in December I was with her at Oxford, where she gave a morning
concert in the ‘Theatre’ or Senate House. Eighteen hundred persons
were present, and the enthusiasm of the students was most diverting.

“Next we posted across to Rugby, in order to proceed to Leeds, where
Jenny gave a concert for the profit of her own little orchestra, and
£640 was realised, each man getting about £36,—a pretty ‘wind-up’ to a
most agreeable and lucrative three months’ _tournée_.

“After the concert, and about midnight, Jenny gave a _Soirée_ to the
band, and we kept it up till 3 A.M., with dancing and a famous good
supper, after which Jenny made a speech, proposing Balfe’s health;
and, after that, another to her band, drinking all _their_ ‘healths,’
and bidding them farewell and prosperity.

“Her address was given with feeling and taste, and the effect it had
upon her guests was evidently profound. I was very near crying during
the response, which was _her_ health, with harmonious chords and
_vivas_ from all lips. Balfe made her a speech, thanking her in the
name of the _troupe_, and paid her some lofty, but heartfelt
compliments, in neat and appropriate phraseology. The evening was very
delightful altogether, and we all parted with regret, returning to
London on the morrow with Mr. Lumley.”

This generous and graceful act accomplished, Mdlle. Lind returned for ten days, to London, for the purpose of carrying out the great enterprise which, during the last few months, had occupied so much of her attention, and which she now felt sure of bringing to a successful issue.

The noble idea of commemorating Mendelssohn’s genius, by the foundation of a Music-School in his name, presented itself to some of his most intimate friends, not very many months after his early death.

The exact details of its origin have not transpired; but we have seen that Mdlle. Lind first mentioned it in writing, in a letter addressed to Judge Munthe, on the 14th of August, 1848; and again, in another written to Madame Wichmann, on the 4th of September—_i.e._, exactly ten months after Mendelssohn’s death. And now, at last, after four months of careful deliberation, the time had arrived for putting the great design into execution.

The idea was a noble one indeed, well worthy of being carried out to its fullest extent, had this proved to have been possible. And what more worthy means could have been devised for raising the funds needed for putting it into execution, than the scheme proposed by Mdlle. Lind—the presentation to the public of his last and greatest Oratorio, in the most perfect form that the united talent of the most accomplished singers and instrumentalists in England could achieve?

This was the bold idea, in furtherance of which, she invited her artist friends to assist her in a grand performance of _Elijah_, at Exeter Hall, on Friday, the 15th of December.

And, in selecting this as the most fitting work for her memorial purpose, she did so, not only because she believed it to be the greatest work her friend had produced, but because she knew that he would himself have chosen it as the one best fitted for the display of her own peculiar powers, since he had composed the soprano part expressly for her, although she had been prevented, by unforeseen circumstances, from singing it in public during his life-time.

The result of her labours may be gathered from the following critique which appeared in _The Times_, on the day after the celebration:—

“The grand performance of the Oratorio of _Elijah_, in aid of the
‘Mendelssohn Foundation for Free Scholarships in the Leipzig Musical
Conservatory,’ took place last night.

“Exeter Hall was filled, in every part, by one of the most brilliant
and fashionable audiences ever assembled in a public edifice. His
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, with the Duchess and Princess of
Cambridge, the Prince and Princesses of Hohenlohe, the Hanoverian
Minister, Count Kielmansegge, and suite, occupied the northern
gallery, near the orchestra. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops
of London and Norwich, the Prussian Ambassador, etc., were in the
reserved seats in the area.

“We have already stated that Mdlle. Lind had liberally accorded her
gratuitous services for this occasion; and we are now enabled to add
that she doubled the value of her assistance, and the obligation of
those interested in the Mendelssohn Foundation, by attending every one
of the rehearsals, private and public, arriving at the beginning, and
remaining until the end, in order to ensure, as far as she was
concerned, a perfect execution of Mendelssohn’s immortal work, which
she has studied expressly for the occasion.

“The performance last night was complete and splendid; well worthy of
the cause for which it was instituted, and a considerable sum will be
devoted, by its means, to the advancement of the Mendelssohn
Foundation at Leipzig.”

It would be beside our purpose to trace the history of the “Mendelssohn Scholarships” from this splendid beginning to the final success of the movement. But it is satisfactory to know that Mdlle. Lind’s intentions with regard to them have long been carried out, both in the spirit and the letter, and will continue to be so carried out in perpetuity, though only to a certain limited extent, since many modifications of the original plan were found necessary, before the Foundation was permanently established. We cannot, however, doubt that Mdlle. Lind’s name will be remembered, in connection with the Memorial she raised to her departed friend, for many a century to come—for the Foundation is legally secured, and remains in perpetuity.