ALS in French, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.5, February 28, 1845. Handwritten letter to Mme. Emma von Scholz, in part (translated): "I could not deny myself the pleasure of thanking you from the bottom of my heart for the kind interest you have taken in me—and at the same time begging you to express my sincere gratitude to Madame Mendelssohn for the two little patties of confectionery…It is precisely in the little things that make you proud of women. God knows how I was busy during my stays in Berlin because I didn't have 5 minutes at my disposal so I was a lot more friendly towards friendly people like Mrs. Mendelssohn…please take it that I am very sensitive to your greeting." In fine condition, with light overall creasing.
The letter has been professionally inlaid into a slightly larger sheet, and loosely laid-in to a scarce 1850 hardbound copy of “Jenny Lind’s Swedish Melodies” by Wm. Hall & Son, N.Y., approx. 60 folio pages of music and lyrics, with lithograph frontis portrait of Lind, housed in a blue cloth slipcase with gilt-lettered leather spine.
This is a significant letter given the repeated references to Madame Cecile Mendelssohn, the wife of composer Felix Mendelssohn, whom Felix and Jenny would shortly betray. Lind first met Felix Mendelssohn four months prior to this letter. Mendelssohn soon fell passionately in love with Lind. He once threatened suicide if she didn’t enter into an adulterous relationship with him. She eventually reciprocated his affection. Upon his death in 1847 Lind wrote: '[He was] the only person who brought fulfillment to my spirit, and almost as soon as I found him I lost him.' Lind’s husband, Otto Goldschmidt, destroyed Mendelssohn’s love letters to her after her death. With historical hindsight, it is easy to see why Lind spent the few free moments she had in Berlin at the Mendelssohn’s. She still went out of her way to write this letter to explain away her absence to Mme. Von Scholz and to assuage her envy.
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