fmb-1838-02-24-02

            Leipsic, 24th Feb., 1838. Dear Mdme. Kiene,
Pray do not imagine that I think seldom of you, or that I think of you with less devotion and pleasure and gratitude because I am only able to write so little. Not a single important event in my life, not a day, be it grave or gay, goes by, which does not connect my thoughts with you; and then I determine to write to you, but the giddy, busy whirl swallows me up and prevents me. A fortnight ago my dear wife presented me with our first child, a son, and though she was very well and cheerful the first week, she had such a terrible attack of illness a week ago, that now, though by God’s help the danger has been averted, I may look upon her as given to me anew. During the sad days of her illness as I watched beside her, I bitterly reproached myself for never having written to you, my dear benefactress and friend, about my marriage, and all this past time; and I resolved that it should be my first duty to tell you of my happiness, and to say how my whole life long I have always thought of you with gratitude, and how it was only through my wretched carelessness that I had not expressed this to you for so long, as I should and ought to have done. I hope that with your usual kindness you will forgive me this. I have often planned going to Paris once more, merely for the sake of seeing you; now indeed, since I am married, it will become more and more difficult to carry out this plan, and yet I do not like to give it up. I also wish so much to see Baillot again, and hear his splendid tone; and I should enjoy seeing some of the young musicians there, if they have not forgotten me – but otherwise I could not mention any of my numerous Paris acquaintances who could again attract me there, and it is, and always will be, your house and all the noble and good things that I learned there, which above all else make the remembrance of Paris dear and precious to me, and again awaken the wish to return. The rest of the Paris life, in spite of all its wonderful advantages, has very little attraction for me. All that one gets from there in the way of compositions is very modern, very clever, very piquant, but also very cold and too seldom natural. Then everything seems to me gêné and exaggerated there, so that I always fancy the musicians themselves cannot really get any good from their music and their manner of life. You laugh, perhaps, and see me in the spirit as the true Philistine, with a cotton nightcap on my head, and going along with the usual snail’s pace of my countrymen. Do not believe it; anyhow I give myself every trouble not to fall into the snail’s pace, by working diligently and ceaselessly at such things as may, I hope, ensure me from it, and at the same time, I hope, save me from all that exaggeration and over-excitement, if it be possible in these days to escape from it. I am pretty well settled here now for the next two or three years; it suits me very well, for I have only the twenty concerts in the winter, and all the time between and the whole summer quite free; then I have a delightful apartment with an extensive view over the fields, and there I live and compose to my heart’s content. As soon as my wife is able to get up and be with me, all will be as happy and perfect as I could wish. I am only one good day’s journey from Berlin and my family, so we often go to see each other. Next week I hope to have my brother Paul and his wife here, and at Easter we intend paying my mother and brother and sisters a visit.
I write these lines with the request that you would give my best compliments to M. Bigot, and recall me to his remembrance; also please give the kindest messages from me to M. and Madame Baillot and Sauzay. And you yourself, my dear friend, if you care sometimes to think of one who hangs upon your well being and that of your family with fervent love and gratitude, and with the liveliest sympathy, who wishes you everything good that his heart can imagine, then think sometimes of me, your
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.          

            <TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0 ../../../fmbc_framework/xsd/fmb-c.xsd" xml:id="fmb-1838-02-24-02" xml:space="default"> <teiHeader xml:lang="de"> <fileDesc> <titleStmt> <title key="fmb-1838-02-24-02" xml:id="title_ec40e013-1a21-4587-b1ff-6114c66a67d8">Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy an Marie Catherine Kiéné in Paris <lb></lb>Leipzig, 24. Februar 1838</title> <title level="s" type="incipit" xml:id="title_c08e6b51-1bfa-48b3-b051-c952927147f0">Pray do not imagine that I think seldom of you, or that I think of you with less devotion and pleasure and gratitude because I am only able to write so little. Not a single</title> <title level="s" type="sub" xml:id="title_c9b122b6-9909-4cd7-bcbe-a2579640060c">Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Correspondence Online (FMB-C)</title> <title key="not_yet_determined" type="precursor">noch nicht ermittelt</title> <title key="not_yet_determined" type="successor">noch nicht ermittelt</title> <author key="PSN0000001">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</author><respStmt><resp resp="writer"></resp><persName key="PSN0000001" resp="writer">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</persName></respStmt><respStmt resp="transcription"> <resp resp="transcription">Transkription: </resp> <name resp="transcription">FMB-C</name> </respStmt> <respStmt resp="edition"> <resp resp="edition">Edition: </resp> <name resp="edition">FMB-C</name> </respStmt> </titleStmt> <publicationStmt> <publisher>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Correspondence Online-Ausgabe (FMB-C). Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Medienwissenschaft. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin</publisher> <address> <street>Am Kupfergraben 5</street> <placeName> <settlement>10117 Berlin</settlement> <country>Deutschland</country> </placeName> </address> <idno type="URI">http://www.mendelssohn-online.com</idno> <availability> <licence target="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)</licence> </availability> <idno type="MSB">Bd. 6, 1918</idno></publicationStmt> <seriesStmt> <p>Maschinenlesbare Übertragung der vollständigen Korrespondenz Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys (FMB-C)</p> </seriesStmt> <sourceDesc source="edition_template_printout" xml:id="sourceDesc_641466be-458a-4b3f-820a-98b82f6d25b1"> <bibl type="printed_letter">Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Goethe and Mendelssohn (1874), S. 136-138 (engl. Übersetzung).</bibl> <msDesc> <msIdentifier> <country>-</country> <settlement>-</settlement> <institution key="RISM">-</institution> <repository>-</repository> <collection>-</collection> <idno type="signatur">-</idno> </msIdentifier> <msContents> <msItem> <title key="fmb-1838-02-24-02" type="letter" xml:id="title_4ea1c41c-3b5d-4fb9-abac-9804a95cd123">Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy an Marie Catherine Kiéné in Paris; Leipzig, 24. Februar 1838</title> <incipit>Pray do not imagine that I think seldom of you, or that I think of you with less devotion and pleasure and gratitude because I am only able to write so little. Not a single important event in my life, not a day, </incipit> </msItem> </msContents> <physDesc> <p>3 beschr. S. (laut Katalog Charavay, Paris, Catalogue de l’importante collection de lettres autographes composant de cabinet de feu M. Gauthier-Lachapelle, Auktion 10. bis 17. Mai 1872, Nr. 1383; Adresse (laut Katalog). – Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy legte dieses Schreiben seinem Brief Nr. 1917 (fmb-1838-02-24-01 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy an Lea Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Berlin; Leipzig, 24. Februar 1838) bei mit der Bitte, es schnellstmöglich an die Empfängerin weiterzuleiten. Da er die Anschrift nicht kannte (Z. 62), dürfte diese von der Hand Lea Mendelssohn Bartholdys hinzugefügt worden sein.</p> <handDesc hands="1"> <p>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy</p> </handDesc> <accMat> <listBibl> <bibl type="none"></bibl> </listBibl> </accMat> </physDesc> <history> <provenance> <p>-</p> </provenance> </history> </msDesc> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc> <encodingDesc><projectDesc><p>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Correspondence Online-Ausgabe FMB-C: Digitale Edition der vollständigen Korrespondenz Hin- und Gegenbriefe Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys auf XML-TEI-Basis.</p></projectDesc><editorialDecl><p>Die Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Correspondence Online-Ausgabe FMB-C ediert die Gesamtkorrespondenz des Komponisten Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 1809-1847 in Form einer digitalen, wissenschaftlich-kritischen Online-Ausgabe. Sie bietet neben der diplomatischen Wiedergabe der rund 6.000 Briefe Mendelssohns erstmals auch eine Gesamtausgabe der über 7.200 Briefe an den Komponisten sowie einen textkritischen, inhalts- und kontexterschließenden Kommentar aller Briefe. Sie wird ergänzt durch eine Personen- und Werkdatenbank, eine Lebenschronologie Mendelssohns, zahlreicher Register der Briefe, Werke, Orte und Körperschaften sowie weitere Verzeichnisse. Philologisches Konzept,  Philologische FMB-C-Editionsrichtlinien: Uta Wald, Dr. Ulrich Taschow. Digitales Konzept, Digitale FMB-C-Editionsrichtlinien: Dr. Ulrich Taschow. Technische Konzeption der Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Correspondence FMB-C Ausgabe und Webdesign: Dr. Ulrich Taschow.</p></editorialDecl></encodingDesc> <profileDesc> <creation> <date cert="high" when="1838-02-24" xml:id="date_6c48fc66-d984-4463-a4df-0fb5b9ec2562">24. Februar 1838</date></creation> <correspDesc> <correspAction type="sent"> <persName key="PSN0000001" resp="author" xml:id="persName_bcc559de-10cd-4f3b-ac4b-eed0640aeefc">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</persName><note>counter-reset</note><persName key="PSN0000001" resp="writer">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</persName> <placeName type="writing_place" xml:id="placeName_37107e7e-c723-4979-bb25-5e4748380533"> <settlement key="STM0100116">Leipzig</settlement> <country>Deutschland</country></placeName></correspAction> <correspAction type="received"> <persName key="PSN0112372" resp="receiver" xml:id="persName_bba1dc51-943c-452e-ac3e-786338a63f2f">Kiéné, Marie Catherine (1765-1855)</persName> <placeName type="receiving_place" xml:id="placeName_6e8694ea-7df4-4244-9136-9164fc6c32c9"> <settlement key="STM0100105">Paris</settlement> <country>Frankreich</country> </placeName></correspAction> </correspDesc> <langUsage> <language ident="en">englisch</language> </langUsage> </profileDesc> <revisionDesc status="draft">  </revisionDesc> </teiHeader> <text type="letter"> <body> <div type="address" xml:id="div_051f2fc3-7137-452d-b864-46b94f3104a9"> <head> <address> <addrLine><hi n="1" rend="underline">To</hi> Madame Kiene, 3, <hi n="1" rend="underline">Rue Louis-le-grand, Paris</hi>.</addrLine> </address> </head> </div> <div n="1" type="act_of_writing" xml:id="div_1b1655ed-b99f-4d46-bd8d-568d8ed79e08"><docAuthor key="PSN0000001" resp="author" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</docAuthor><docAuthor key="PSN0000001" resp="writer" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Jacob Ludwig Felix (1809-1847)</docAuthor><dateline rend="right">Leipsic, <date cert="high" when="1838-02-24" xml:id="date_38ea3331-7583-4633-9180-bbe91ecd96ee"><hi n="1" rend="underline">24th Feb</hi>., 1838</date>.</dateline><salute rend="left">Dear Mdme. Kiene,</salute><p style="paragraph_without_indent">Pray do not imagine that I think seldom of you, or that I think of you with less devotion and pleasure and gratitude because I am only able to write so little. Not a single important event in my life, not a day, be it grave or gay, goes by, which does not connect my thoughts with you; and then I determine to write to you, but the giddy, busy whirl swallows me up and prevents me. A fortnight ago <persName xml:id="persName_abe43937-0835-41f0-a97c-47d831418370">my dear wife<name key="PSN0113252" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Cécile Sophie Charlotte (1817-1853)</name></persName> presented me with <persName xml:id="persName_1ba17198-60d1-4387-957b-5ad2a2303136">our first child<name key="PSN0113251" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Carl (seit ca. 1859: Karl) Wolfgang Paul (1838-1897)</name></persName>, a son, and though she was very well and cheerful the first week, she had such a terrible attack of illness a week ago, that now, though by God’s help the danger has been averted, I may look upon her as given to me anew. During the sad days of her illness as I watched beside her, I bitterly reproached myself for never having written to you, my dear benefactress and friend, about my marriage, and all this past time; and I resolved that it should be my first duty to tell you of my happiness, and to say how my whole life long I have always thought of you with gratitude, and how it was only through my wretched carelessness that I had not expressed this to you for so long, as I should and ought to have done. I hope that with your usual kindness you will forgive me this. I have often planned going to Paris once more, merely for the sake of seeing you; now indeed, since I am married, it will become more and more difficult to carry out this plan, and yet I do not like to give it up. I also wish so much to see <persName xml:id="persName_41701178-9295-4b2e-9854-2da37ab2f340">Baillot<name key="PSN0109640" style="hidden">Baillot, Pierre Marie François de Sales (1771-1842)</name></persName> again, and hear his splendid tone; and I should enjoy seeing some of the young musicians there, if they have not forgotten me – but otherwise I could not mention any of my numerous Paris acquaintances who could again attract me there, and it is, and always will be, your house and all the noble and good things that I learned there, which above all else make the remembrance of Paris dear and precious to me, and again awaken the wish to return. The rest of the Paris life, in spite of all its wonderful advantages, has very little attraction for me. All that one gets from there in the way of compositions is very modern, very clever, very piquant, but also very cold and too seldom natural. Then everything seems to me <hi rend="underline">gêné</hi> and exaggerated there, so that I always fancy the musicians themselves cannot really get any good from their music and their manner of life. You laugh, perhaps, and see me in the spirit as the true Philistine, with a cotton nightcap on my head, and going along with the usual snail’s pace of my countrymen. Do not believe it; anyhow I give myself every trouble not to fall into the snail’s pace, by working diligently and ceaselessly at such things as may, I hope, ensure me from it, and at the same time, I hope, save me from all that exaggeration and over-excitement, if it be possible in these days to escape from it. I am pretty well settled here now for the next two or three years; it suits me very well, for I have only the <placeName xml:id="placeName_163ef134-9706-4fe8-be3e-aa1c3cb8e775">twenty concerts<name key="NST0100117" style="hidden" subtype="" type="institution">Gewandhaus</name><settlement key="STM0100116" style="hidden" type="">Leipzig</settlement><country style="hidden">Deutschland</country></placeName> in the winter, and all the time between and the whole summer quite free; then I have a delightful apartment with an extensive view over the fields, and there I live and compose to my heart’s content. As soon as <persName xml:id="persName_4b0ae0d0-9e6f-4d22-95a6-a795c5d131e8">my wife<name key="PSN0113252" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Cécile Sophie Charlotte (1817-1853)</name></persName> is able to get up and be with me, all will be as happy and perfect as I could wish. I am only one good day’s journey from Berlin and my family, so we often go to see each other. Next week I hope to have <persName xml:id="persName_0e9308cb-4c1f-4aa1-bf16-0f5b2f293b43">my brother Paul<name key="PSN0113263" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Paul Hermann (1812-1874)</name></persName> and <persName xml:id="persName_4b5b50e3-ef53-4fde-95f1-188fb15f1f2f">his wife<name key="PSN0113264" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Pauline Louise Albertine (1814-1879)</name></persName> here, and at Easter we intend paying <persName xml:id="persName_fa7fdff4-15ea-47ea-a884-20cdc4bfa0db">my mother<name key="PSN0113260" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Lea Felicia Pauline (1777-1842)</name></persName> and <persName xml:id="persName_38bac7f0-1b7e-4b88-bee4-2414b2677e3e">brother<name key="PSN0113263" style="hidden">Mendelssohn Bartholdy (bis 1816: Mendelssohn), Paul Hermann (1812-1874)</name></persName> and <persName xml:id="persName_725d076e-2355-4183-ac5c-5bd5ca4f119d">sisters<name key="PSN0110673" style="hidden">Dirichlet (Lejeune Dirichlet), Rebecka Henriette (1811-1858)</name><name key="PSN0111893" style="hidden">Hensel, Fanny Cäcilia (1805-1847)</name></persName> a visit.</p><p>I write these lines with the request that you would give my best compliments to <persName xml:id="persName_86146123-7f66-418f-a024-03b6680efcc6">M. Bigot<name key="PSN0109947" style="hidden">Bigot de Morogues, Paul (1765-1853)</name></persName>, and recall me to his remembrance; also please give the kindest messages from me to M. and <persName xml:id="persName_fb88a287-bf0b-4fba-8ef6-a81dd0c82132">Madame<name key="PSN0109638" style="hidden">Baillot, Antoinette-Louise (1781-1843)</name></persName> <persName xml:id="persName_d958fcba-ac34-415d-84a6-710cddc5357c">Baillot<name key="PSN0109640" style="hidden">Baillot, Pierre Marie François de Sales (1771-1842)</name></persName> and <persName xml:id="persName_42c75142-9e82-4ccc-b4e8-42fe2a2e67b8">Sauzay<name key="PSN0114478" style="hidden">Sauzay, Charles Eugène (1809-1901)</name></persName>. <seg type="closer" xml:id="seg_1f877fd5-3ff2-4c1b-ace7-ccfa0d78d576">And you yourself, my dear friend, if you care sometimes to think of one who hangs upon your well being and that of your family with fervent love and gratitude, and with the liveliest sympathy, who wishes you everything good that his heart can imagine, then think sometimes of me, your</seg></p><signed rend="right">Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.</signed></div></body> </text></TEI>