A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Hebrides
HEBRIDES. 'Die Hebriden' is one of the names of Mendelssohn's 2nd Concert Overture (in B minor, op. 26), the others being 'Fingals Höhle' and 'Die einsame Insel.' He and Klingemann were at Staffa on Aug. 7, 1829; and the next letter to his family is dated 'Auf einer Hebride,' and contains the first 20 bars of the overture. (See facsimile in 'Die Familie Mendelssohn,' i. 257.) It is said that when he returned to Berlin and was asked by his sisters what he had seen, he went to the piano and played the opening of the overture, as much as to say 'that is what I have seen.' He began it seriously at Rome in the winter of 1830 (see the 'Reisebriefe'), and the first score is dated 'Rome, Dec. 16, 1830,' and entitled 'Die einsame Insel.' This MS. is in the possession of Mr. Felix Moscheles. It was played at the Crystal Palace on Oct. 14, 1871. A second score is dated ' London, June 20, 1832,' and entitled 'The Hebrides'; it is in possession of the family of Sir W. Sterndale Bennett. A comparison between the two was attempted in the C. P. programme book of the above date. The differences are very great, and are chiefly in the middle portion or working out (see letter Jan. 12, 1832). The printed score (Breitkopfs), an 8vo (published Easter 1834), is entitled 'Fingals Höhle.' The parts are headed 'Hebrides,' and do not agree with the score (see bars 7 and 87).
The overture was first played by the Philharmonic Society, May 14, 1832.