MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, FELIX. (1809-1847). German composer, and one of the most gifted musicians of the 19th century. AMusQS. (“Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy”). 1p. Oblong 16mo. (Approx. 4 ¾” x 2”). N.p., N.d. Five measures from the first movement of his Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, known as the Scottish Symphony, neatly penned and signed in full. On a small, irregularly trimmed sheet which is laid down on a larger sheet and tipped onto a card.

In the spring of 1829, Mendelssohn visited his close Berlin friend, Karl Klingemann, a young diplomat residing in London. With Klingemann the 20-year-old composer embarked on a walking holiday north through the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides, a trip that inspired both his Hebrides Overture and Scottish Symphony. In a letter to his family, Mendelssohn shared that he had begun a Scottish symphony while sitting in the ruins of Edinburgh’s Holyrood Chapel and enclosed the opening bars in his letter. He continued work on the piece while touring Italy. However, by 1831 he had turned his attention to other compositions, returning to the nascent symphony in 1841 and completing it the following year, when it premiered on March 3, 1842, at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. Although he did not discuss the Scottish inspiration for the symphony during his lifetime, it became known as such when its origin was revealed after his death.

Overall age-toned. Rare; we could find no auction record of a Mendelssohn quotation from this work.