n at
Bingen-on-the-Rhine, July 14, 1837, he says:--

"I wish to ask your advice in a matter which is of importance to me,
and I feel it will therefore not be indifferent to you either, having
received so many proofs to the contrary from you. It concerns the
selection of a subject of an oratorio which I intend to begin next
winter. I am most anxious to have your counsels, as the best
suggestions and contributions for the text of my 'St. Paul' came from
you. Many very apparent reasons are in favor of choosing St. Peter as
the subject,--I mean its being intended for the Duesseldorf Musical
Festival at Whitsuntide, and the prominent position the feast of Whit
Sunday would occupy in this subject. In addition to these grounds, I
may add my wish (in connection with a greater plan for a later
oratorio) to bring the two chief apostles and pillars of the Christian
Church side by side in oratorios,--in short, that I should have a 'St.
Peter' as well as a 'St. Paul.'"

Another extract from the same letter will show the keenness with which he
analyzed his themes. He writes:--

"I need not tell you that there are sufficient internal grounds to make
me prize the subject; and far above all else stands the outpouring of
the Holy Ghost, which must form the central point or chief object. The
question, therefore, is whether the place that Peter assumes in the
Bible, divested of the dignity which he enjoys in the Catholic or
Protestant Churches as a martyr, or the first Pope, etc.,--whether what
is said of him in the Bible is alone and in itself sufficiently
important to form the basis of a symbolical oratorio. For, according to
my feeling, the subject must not be treated historically, however
indispensable this was in the case of 'St. Paul.' In historic handling,
Christ must appear in the earlier part of St. Peter's career; and where
he appears, St. Peter could not lay claim to the chief interest. I
think, therefore, it must be symbolical; though all the historical
points might probably be introduced,--the betrayal and repentance, the
keys of Heaven given him by Christ, his preaching at Pentecost,--not in
an historical, but prophetic light, if I may so express myself, in
close connection."

The project was never carried out; but the deep earnestness with which
Mendelssohn considered it shows how thoughtfully he must have devoted
himself to the scheme which took its place. Ne