MENDELSSOHN, Felix (1809-1847). German composer.
Autograph Letter Signed to the Leipzig publisher Friedrich Kistner, 1 page 8vo (oblong), Leipzig, 12 January 1839 with autograph address on the verso. The letter folded into a small square packet for delivery by hand (see the supplementary illustration, which shows the address side from two directions).
A brief but most interesting letter sending the two Scottish [Songs], urging him 'in God's name' to print the four stanzas as they stand and also the refrain as it appears in the original.

Not published in R. Elvers's edition of Briefe an deutschen Verleger (1968). In a letter to Kistner of 18 December 1838 Mendelssohn returns a copy of 'The Vocal Melodies of Scotland .. . arranged ... for the Piano-Forte by Finlay Dun and John Thomson' (the latter of whom he had met during his visit to Edinburgh in 1829), noting that number 2 of the collection is 'a very lovely thing' ('ein sehr köstliches Ding'), enclosing his attempt at a translation of number 5, 'Die Blume des Tales', but adding that he does not like the order of the songs in that collection. The present letter presumably accompanied his translation of another of the songs. Mendelssohn had composed a setting of the first song, 'Oh dinna ask me', for the contralto Mary Shaw in November 1838, and its resounding success led Kistner to ask him for five more. Sechs schottische National-Liederÿ were published by Kistner in February 1839, but with no mention of Mendelssohn's involvement in their composition.
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