![MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed (‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’) to V[incent] Novello, 103 Great Portland Street, [London], 28 May [18]32.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17200_0565_000(mendelssohn_bartholdy_felix_autograph_letter_signed_to_vincent_novello060803).jpg?w=1)
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MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809-1847). Autograph letter signed (‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’) to V[incent] Novello, 103 Great Portland Street, [London], 28 May [18]32.
In English. One page, 180 x 110mm, bifolium, address panel (splits at folds, tears at corners of address leaf).
Unpublished: Mendelssohn declines an invitation to listen to music from Vincent Novello, the English composer and music publisher. Mendelssohn is extremely sorry not to be able to attend next Sunday evening: 'I promised to dine that day at a friends [sic] of mine in the country & shall not be able to get back to town' in time. As such, 'I must be deprived of the pleasure to spend the evening in your house & to hear the music which you kindly intended to favour me with'.
The music publisher Novello & Co was born from the composer Vincent Novello's (1781-1861) determination to bring the music of hitherto-unknown European composers to Britain: he compiled and edited a series of anthologies of works from masters including Haydn, Mozart and Palestrina, the first of which would become the house's inaugural publication, A Collection of Sacred Music as Performed at the Royal Portuguese Chapel (1811). His son, J. Alfred, built Novello & Co into a fully-fledged commercial enterprise; Alfred published many of Mendelssohn's works for the English market. The letter is unknown and unpublished.
In English. One page, 180 x 110mm, bifolium, address panel (splits at folds, tears at corners of address leaf).
Unpublished: Mendelssohn declines an invitation to listen to music from Vincent Novello, the English composer and music publisher. Mendelssohn is extremely sorry not to be able to attend next Sunday evening: 'I promised to dine that day at a friends [sic] of mine in the country & shall not be able to get back to town' in time. As such, 'I must be deprived of the pleasure to spend the evening in your house & to hear the music which you kindly intended to favour me with'.
The music publisher Novello & Co was born from the composer Vincent Novello's (1781-1861) determination to bring the music of hitherto-unknown European composers to Britain: he compiled and edited a series of anthologies of works from masters including Haydn, Mozart and Palestrina, the first of which would become the house's inaugural publication, A Collection of Sacred Music as Performed at the Royal Portuguese Chapel (1811). His son, J. Alfred, built Novello & Co into a fully-fledged commercial enterprise; Alfred published many of Mendelssohn's works for the English market. The letter is unknown and unpublished.
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