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MENDELSSOHN PLAYS FOR THE LAST TIME IN ENGLAND
Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-1847) and Henry Hill (1808-1856)
String Quartets, Op. 44, "Trois Grands Quatuors pour Deux Violons, Alto et Basse composés et dédiés à son altesse Royale le Prince Royal...par Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy"
Breitkopf & Härtel: Leipzig, [1839]. Pl.n: 6022-24. first edition. Folio. 13/13/15+11/11/13+11/11/13+9/11/13 pp. Disbound. In a custom-made box. Condition very good, with some performance markings and penciled measure numbers. Title page with inscription cropped at the top, affecting a few words. Complete set of four parts, with title page on the first violin part only. Each part signed HyHill and with his attestation on the first title page.A score annotated and signed by the important violist Henry Hill, with parts, used at Mendelssohn's last concert in England, given shortly before his death on November 4, 1847. The concert was a special one presented by The Beethoven Society in honor of Mendelssohn. Not only did the renowned composer attend the performance, but he also improvised a piece while the musicians were looking for a lost part. The score is from the collection of the great English violist Henry Hill.
The score has a signed, very touching hand-written note from Hill on the title page of the first violin part of the first quartet. Starting on the right-hand side and going clockwise, Hill writes:
This quatuor was played at a matinee given in honor of the author at the Beethoven rooms 1847…the much loved and much to be lamented Felix Mendelssohn was present and played one of his trios and whilst they were seeking for a lost part…gave a most splendid improvisation -- it was his last performance in England!!…'to praise what is lost makes the remembrance more dear' (a quote from William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well, V, iii).
