ABSTRACT
Felix Mendelssohn's reputation in nineteenth-century Italy and his influence on Italian musical culture is an intriguing topic that has received scant attention in scholarly writings on the composer. A letter from the publisher Ricordi to Mendelssohn in September 1844 indicates a disparity between Italian audiences and those of France and Germany, and points to a further division in the Italian musical world. The publication of the first Italian editions of Mendelssohn's music by the Milanese publisher Francesco Lucca in 1844 seems all the more noteworthy in this context. This enterprise was not instigated by the Italian publisher, who had no direct contact with Mendelssohn, no by Mendelssohn himself, who seemed somewhat disinterested in the dissemination of his music in Italy. In closing, it is worth noting that Italian editions of Mendelssohn's music during his lifetime appeared quite late in comparison to Germany, France and England, commercial rivalries between different publishers played an important role in these Italian editorial ventures.
