Letter to Leopold Lindenau

September 27, 1835

Miscellaneous Letters Collection, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library
In 1835, Mendelssohn moved from Düsseldorf to Leipzig to become the director of the Gewandhaus orchestra. In this letter to his friend Leopold Lindenau (1806–1859), a violinist from Hamburg, Mendelssohn explains that the orchestra’s concertmaster, Heinrich August Matthaei, was ailing and might need to vacate the position. He offers advice on how Lindenau could make himself better known in Leipzig by playing in subscription concerts and then giving solo recitals, so as to improve his chances of gaining the Gewandhaus appointment. Matthaei died later in 1835, but Lindenau did not get his job; the new concertmaster was a different violinist from Hamburg, Ferdinand David, who later premiered Mendelssohn’s violin concerto.