Friday Performance Pick – 65

Mendelssohn, Songs Without Words, Op. 67, No. 2

The salons of the 19th century were an ideal venue for small-scale character pieces. Professor Carol devotes a significant part the Discovering Music course to this new development, which is so characteristic of the mindset after the Napoleonic Wars. Chopin is a prime example, as we discussed two weeks ago. Some of the best song repertoire also comes out of this period, such as the famous song cycles of Schubert and Schumann. Those two genres were combined in Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words.

mendelssohn-house
Mendelssohn House, Andreas Praefcke (CC BY 2.5)

Mendelssohn composed many of these “songs” for solo piano, collected in eight volumes of six songs each. They have many of the characteristics of songs with lyrical melodies and relatively simple and short forms. Some of them require advanced skills on the keyboard, but many can be played by moderately accomplished pianists. That causes some to treat these works as less significant that more complex works of Chopin or Schumann. But I think that misses the point. Simplicity in music, like simplicity in prose, doesn’t come easily, but it often has the greatest impact. For the performer, the simplicity itself can be quite a challenge.

We filmed several sequences in Mendelssohn’s Leipzig home for Discovering Music. The ambience of the home is in tune with this kind of music. It’s not palatial by any means. Its Biedermeier style has a refined simplicity with plain walls and practical furniture. There is nothing that dazzles you but the unpretentious elegance everywhere.