Songs Without Words

© BF-WATCH TV 2021 Alexander Schreiner, organist, brings you now a Christmas present in music from the pen of Felix Mendelssohn.

It is A Song Without Words.

A Song Without Words Oh, my God.

¶¶ THE END

This is Jenny Garth from I Choose Me with Jenny Garth.

I'm your host, Denise Finnegan-Hill.

Song Without Words for Cello and Piano by Felix Mendelssohn, Maria Kliegel is on cello, and Kristen Mercher at the piano.

piano plays softly ¶.

¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¶¶ ¦ ¦ ¶¶ Music of Felix Mendelssohn, Song Without Words for Cello and Piano, performed by the cellist Maria Kliegel and pianist Kristen Murcher.

Here on Anytime Classical, stay tuned for more great music.

Music of Jean-Michel Demas, a winner of the Prix de Rome Prize in 1947.

Thank you.

I have an 1861 Songs Without Words book by Mendelssohn.

Is it of any value, asks someone.

Songs Without Words book by Mendelssohn.

So it should be music orientated, I guess.

Books? Okay, so if you're looking at books, the best way to, I mean, I do know about books too, but really books are like, things are quite tricky because people want to know about every single page, what the condition is, this is the first edition, blah, blah, blah.

On his return from his travels, Mendelssohn, who had now all the assurance and self-possession of an artist, was appointed chapel master at Dusseldorf, a position which gave him the direction of the grand musical festivals held at the time in the city in Aix-la-Chapelle.

It was during his residence in Dusseldorf that he composed his oratorio of St. Paul and also the first set of his songs without words for the piano, where the music, by its varied expression and its intensity, alone told the story of the poet.

These compositions were a novelty for pianoforte players and inaugurated a new style full of interest, gradually setting aside the variations and sonatas which had become so meaningless and tedious.

The oratorio of St. Paul was not given until 1836, when it was produced at Dusseldorf under his own special superintendence.

It occurred to me that the Octet and the Quintet might make a very good appearance among my works, being in fact better than many compositions that already figure there.

As the publication of these pieces costs me nothing, but on the contrary I derive profit from them, and not wishing to confuse their chronological order, my idea is to publish the following pieces at Easter.

Quintet and Octet, the latter also arranged as a duet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Seven Songs Without Words, Six Songs With Words.

On my return to Germany, six pieces of sacred music, and finally, if I can get anyone to print it and to pay for it, the Symphony in D Minor.