A Minor Mendelssohnian Mystery: The Curious Case of the Credo and the Nachspiel.

Felix Mendelssohn composed his Nachspiel for organ on the verso of the final page of the manuscript of his cantata Wir glauben all' an einen Gott. In 1853 his brother Paul had the autograph removed from its binding and copied by a Berlin copyist, presumably intending to send the copy to Bradford, England, to be premiered at the ceremonies celebrating the opening of St. George's Hall. Presumably, it was also Paul Mendelssohn's intent to reinsert the autograph back into its original binding. Inadvertently, both the autograph and the copy were sent, and the organizers assumed the autograph had been “presented to the Festival Committee” by Paul Mendelssohn. The principal mystery surrounding these two works involves their relationship to each other, if, indeed, there was one. Did Mendelssohn intend the Nachspiel as a Postlude to his cantata? After all, it is in the same key as the cantata: D. If not, then what could have been its purpose—a Postlude to what? Apparently, the Nachspiel was actually incorporated into the performance of the cantata in Bradford in 1853, but whether as a prelude or a postlude is unclear. How the Nachspiel was positioned relative to the cantata is less important than the fact that it was regarded and treated as an integral component of the cantata, which may have been the intention of the composer. The autograph score was never returned to Berlin, but remained in Bradford, where it was mentioned as late as 1859. Presumably, it is still somewhere in the Bradford area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]