[Footnote 140: Schumann said of this prelude, by which he himself was influenced in certain compositions (Cologne): "Thou didst play, Felix Meritis (Mendelssohn), a prelude upon one of those figured chorales: '_Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele_,' was the text; the melody seemed interlaced with garlands of gold, and the work breathed forth such happiness that you inspired in me this avowal: 'Were life deprived of all trust, of all faith, this simple chorale would restore all to me.' I fell into a revery; then, almost unconsciously, I found myself in the cemetery, and I felt poignant grief at not being able to cover with flowers the grave of the great Bach."--Letters, vol. i. Mendelssohn had played this chorale at a concert given, in St. Thomas' Church, to further the erection of a monument to the memory of J.S. Bach. The melody of this chorale is found in choral-books since 1649.] At the end of this volume are the variations in canon form upon the Christmas hymn _Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her_.[141] The combinations in which Bach involves this chorale melody, already often treated by him, might well dismay a contrapuntist; we wish to note here only that original melodic richness, often touching, under which is concealed such arduous labor leading to inconceivable results. Fatigued in following their intricacy, powerless to unravel the inextricable network, the mind clings to these threads, though still indefinite--music now superhuman in the swishing of invisible wings as they fold, or rustle like silk in their contact;--or gliding, rather, without conjuring up any special sound, but leaving to the fancy the whole halo of harmonies; or like an echo, as if fragments caught here and there repeated the song which spirit-voices pray--the white souls of the pure in heart--these voices in peaceful chords, strangely sustained, or so gently persistent that the saints must hear them, in ecstasies which one feels as in a dream; the song which the stars revealed, murmured to the Child, who was lulled by the incommensurable rhythm of the universal concert emanating from God.[142] [Footnote 141: Einige kanonische Veränderungen über das Weihnachtslied: _Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her_.] [Footnote 142: These variations were published separately. Bach had them engraved about 1746 by Balthasar Schmidt in Nuremberg, in order to present them as the work for admission which the "Society for Musical Sciences" founded by Mizler in 1738 imposed upon each of its candidates. Bach was elected in 1747. He must have composed them, however, some years previously. The MS. and the engraved edition present numerous differences of editing.] III