Elias = Elijah: Ein Oratorium nach Worten des Alten Testaments = The Words Selected from the Old Testament op. 70 ed. by Christian Martin Schmidt, and: Elias = Elijah: Ein Oratorium = An Oratorio, and: Christian Martin Schmidt, and: Elias = Elijah, op. 70, MWV A 25, Klavier-Bearbeitungen = Arrangements for Pianoforte (review)

The oratorio Elijah (German title: Elias) was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s crowning achievement in large-scale vocal works. It was first performed in 1846 at the Birmingham Musical Festival in England, and was published a year later, shortly before his death. The creation of the libretto and composition of the music had occupied Mendelssohn on and off for over a decade before the premiere. The work on this piece continued well after the Birmingham Festival: the overwhelming success of the 1846 performance did not prevent Mendelssohn—who was a chronic emender of his scores—from substantially recomposing sections of it before publication. Thus, although the final version, which is the one widely known today, was laboriously edited and proofed by the composer, and therefore meets the criteria of a Fassung letzter Hand, it represents only a part of the compositional and performance history of the work called Elijah.

Thus it is no surprise that the materials published as Elijah in the new Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartoldy (hereinafter, LMA) come in a complex multivolume set, a set that aims at thoroughness regarding description and editing of various versions of the oratorio and discussion of source material. The LMA Elijah publications will include not only (as expected) a newly edited score of the final version, but a total of five volumes, each exploring a different aspect of the work’s development and the various versions in which the composer had a hand before his death. Series VI volume 11 represents the final version of Elijah as found in the first edition of 1847, while, moving chronologically backwards, volume 11A (Frühfassungen) includes the early versions. Volume 11B includes the piano-vocal score, which Mendelssohn himself prepared. Volume 11C will include the musical sketches, and 11D, the critical report (Kritischer Bericht). At the time of writing, however, only volumes 11, 11A, and 11B are available; thus this review must be regarded as a work in progress.

If the 1847 final version bears the authoritative stamp of the composer’s approval, what is gained with the publication of so much additional material? The short answer is: much. The editor Christian Martin Schmidt justifies...