Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words

Description

This edition includes all the collections printed during Mendelssohns lifetime, together with those published posthumously. The appendix also contains a selection of the Lieder ohne Worte which have survived individually, including two pieces which have not been available in modern editions until now.

Fanny Mendelssohn received a lyrical piano piece as a birthday present from her brother Felix in 1828; he wrote it out in her music album, and she called it Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words). Mendelssohn wrote such songs for piano, true music, which fill a persons soul with a thousand better things than words, throughout his life. He himself saw six collections into print between 1832 and 1845. Two further collections containing pieces from the composers unpublished works were published posthumously.

As suited their character, Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte were primarily rooted in domestic music-making in the home, in the middle-class parlours, between comfortable paintings and Biedermeier furnishings. Increasingly they came to be heard in the concert hall. in addition, travelling virtuosi took up these rather reserved pieces, helped popularise them and made them into what they still are today pillars of the repertoire.

Pieces

• Andante con moto in E Major, MWV U 86, Op. 19b, No. 1
• Andante espressivo in A Minor, MWV U 80, Op. 19b, No. 2
• Molto allegro e vivace in A Major ("Hunting Song"), MWV U 89, Op. 19b, No. 3
• Moderato in A Major, MWV U 73, Op. 19b, No. 4
• Poco agitato in F-sharp Minor, MWV U 90, Op. 19b, No. 5
• Andante sostenuto in G Minor (Venetian Gondola Song No. 1), MWV U 78, Op. 19b, No. 6
• Andante espressivo in E-flat Major, MWV U 103, Op. 30, No. 1
• Allegro di molto in B-flat Minor, MWV U 77, Op. 30, No. 2
• Adagio non troppo in E Major, MWV U 104, Op. 30, No. 3
• Agitato e con fuoco in B Minor, MWV U 98, Op. 30, No. 4
• Andante grazioso in D Major, MWV U 97, Op. 30, No. 5
• Song Without Words (Venetian Gondola Song), MWV U 110, Op. 30, No. 6
• Song without Words (The Evening Star), MWV U 121, Op. 38, No. 1
• Song without Words (Lost Happiness), MWV U 115, Op. 38, No. 2
• Song without Words (The Poet's Harp), MWV U 107, Op. 38, No. 3
• Song without Words (Hope), MWV U 120, Op. 38, No. 4
• Song without Words (Passion), MWV U 137, Op. 38, No. 5
• Song without Words in A-flat Major (Duetto), MWV U 119, Op. 38, No. 6
• Song without Words (On the Seashore), MWV U 143, Op. 53, No. 1
• Song without Words (Clouds), MWV U 109, Op. 53, No. 2
• Song without Words in G Minor (Agitation), MWV U 144, Op. 53, No. 3
• Song without Words (Sadness of Soul), MWV U 114, Op. 53, No. 4
• Song without Words (Folk Song), MWV U 153, Op. 53, No. 5
• Song without Words in A Major (Flight), MWV U 154, Op. 53, No. 6
• Song without Words in G Major (May Breezes), MWV U 185, Op. 62, No. 1
• Song without Words (The Departure), MWV U 181, Op. 62, No. 2
• Song without Words in E Minor (Funeral March), MWV U 177, Op. 62, No. 3
• Song without Words (Morning Song), MWV U 175, Op. 62, No. 4
• Song Without Words (Venetian Gondola Song), MWV U 151, Op. 62, No. 5
• Song without Words in A Major (Spring Song), MWV U 161, Op. 62, No. 6
• Andante in E-flat Major, MWV U 180, Op. 67, No. 1
• Allegro leggiero in F-sharp Minor, MWV U 145, Op. 67, No. 2
• Andante tranquillo in B-flat Major, MWV U 102, Op. 67, No. 3
• Presto in C Major ("Spinning Song"), MWV U 182, Op. 67, No. 4
• Moderato in B Minor, MWV U 184, Op. 67, No. 5
• Allegro non troppo in E Major, MWV U 188, Op. 67, No. 6
• Andante espressivo in F Major, MWV U 150, Op. 85, No. 1
• Allegro agitato in A Minor, MWV U 101, Op. 85, No. 2
• Presto in E-flat Major, MWV U 111, Op. 85, No. 3
• Andante sostenuto in D Major, MWV U 190, Op. 85, No. 4
• Allegretto in A Major, MWV U 191, Op. 85, No. 5
• Allegretto con moto in B-flat Major, MWV U 155, Op. 85, No. 6
• Song without Words (Homeless), MWV U 162, Op. 102, No. 1
• Song without Words (Retrospection), MWV U 192, Op. 102, No. 2
• Song without Words (Tarantella), MWV U 195, Op. 102, No. 3
• Song without Words (Sighing Wind), MWV U 152, Op. 102, No. 4
• Song without Words (Happiness), MWV U 194, Op. 102, No. 5
• Song without Words (Song of the Traveler), MWV U 172, Op. 102, No. 6