Earlier Versions
New: Not only articulation, scoring, dynamics, tempi, and even notes but also whole unknown and unpublished earlier versions!
The first of the new Bärenreiter Urtext editions »Die schöne Melusine«:
Mendelssohn completed this work – in its original form – on 14 November 1833, his sister Fanny’s birthday, and in his letter of congratulations, dedicated the work to her. Melusine was first performed on 7 April 1834 in London with Ignaz Moscheles conducting. This first version contains 350 bars and has come down to us in Mendelssohn’s autograph and in a modified score copy in the hand of J. G. Schauseil for the London performance.
Mendelssohn’s close friend Karl Klingemann, who attended the London performance, praised the work as »incomparably moving and touching«. Moscheles commended it as »a splendid work… marked by vigorous and spirited conception, unity and originality«. Mendelssohn himself heard it played some months later in Germany and reflected that it »pleased me very much. With many pieces, I know from the first bars that they will sound good and have drive, and it was thus with this piece…«.
Yet by the following year Mendelssohn declared, »it always struck me as half-finished«, and wanted to rewrite it completely; he even asked for all earlier copies to be burned.
It is unclear as to just why Mendelssohn reworked his compositions, though both he and his friends were aware of what he termed his »Revisionskrankheit« (»revision illness«). Even when a work was safely in print he could not resist making further changes.