Sämtliche Briefe: Band 1, 1816 bis Juni 1830

Name of traveller

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Reason for travel

• travelling as cultural tourist, self-improvement

Date of travel

late August 1829

Wenn man wie ich Beethovens Nationallieder nicht ausstehen kann so gehe man doch hierher und höre diese von kreischenden Nasenstimmen gegrölt begleitet von tölpelhaften Stümperfingern, und schimpfe nicht. . . . Ich werde toll, und muß das Schreiben für nachher lassen. (Mendelssohn Bartholdy 381)

Content

• letters from Llangollen to his family in Hamburg (25-26 Aug. 1829 and 2 Sep. 1829) and from the Coed Du estate near Rhydymwyn to Carl Klingemann (1798–1862) in London (29 Sep. 1829)
• art: complains about being assaulted with versions of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) Nationallieder wherever he goes and bemoans the fact that all genuine folk tunes appear to have been replaced by the 'dreadful, vulgar, fake stuff'
• people:
  • visits the family of John Taylor from London at their estate Coed Du in Rhydymwyn
  • travels with an unnamed English friend whom he met at the Taylor household in Rhydymwyn
• terrain: enjoys romantic landscapes, despite the dreadful weather
• transport:
  • modes of travel: stagecoach, mail coach, train, on foot, horseback
  • explores train tunnels around Llangollen
• click here to read selected letters

Nationality of traveller

German

Language of publication

German, English

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

letter

Citation

Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix. Sämtliche Briefe: Band 1, 1816 bis Juni 1830. Ed. Juliette Appold and Regina Back. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2008. 380-99. Print.