Why does there seem to be so little discussion of Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and his works around here?

I admittedly know almost nothing about him. Sure, I know he was a composer from the 19th century, but I had never ventured into playing any of his works or listening carefully to them until someone mentioned they could play op. 19, no. 6 which I listened to and fell in love with. Now I'm enamoured by all of op. 19 and am striving to learn at least a few of the Songs Without Words.

Felix Mendelssohn wikipedia entry

Feel free to discuss his works, his life, what you're working on or struggling with and anything else related to the composer here. I for one, am a big fan now and know his piano works will always be on my list of potential repertoire choices.

I love Mendelssohn's piano music. I have Martin Jones' set of the complete piano music. There's some wonderful music there besides the SWWs.

also be sure to check out the violin concerto in E, it's gorgeous music!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLKXD_Ar5CM

I had the pleasure to see it live last week along with his Ouvertüre to A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was very impressive...

Also check out Barry Targan's short story, "Harry Belton and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto." A very funny story.

I'm a huge Mendelssohn fan. Just the other night, I was putting the kids to bed, and started flipping through TV channels. PBS had Joshua Bell playing the Violin Concerto... I made the kids get out of bed, and come watch it with me. 2 of the 3 feel asleep within about 5 minutes, but still...

I've been playing piano for only about a year and half, and my progress is steady. I had hoped one day to play some of the Songs without Words, but have chalked that up to "some day way in the future". I'd be delighted to learn I'm wrong on this, and that there are some approachable pieces for beginners.

Am I?

^Not beginner, but there's some reasonable intermediate ones to work out. Give yourself another year and a half. My edition lists the following for intermediate: 9,4,2,6,12,14,48,25,28,33,19,35. I'd say the first half of that list would probably be attainable after the three year period based on what I heard at the recital. Of course, I didn't see how difficult that was to work out or how your playing was tension-wise.

I'd ideally like to work through op. 19, but that would be a stretch for me. 3 and 5 would be a struggle.

The Songs Without Words has been on my music stand for the last three months and I don't see it moving any time soon. So much stuff to work through.

You can try the Children's Pieces, Op. 72.

The songs without words are more intermediate. I have just finished Op19.2 which is a Grade6/7 piece and pretty tricky, but its well worth the effort! It took me about nine months to learn, but then I only practice about half an hour, 5 times a week or so!

I've had lessons for about 5 out of the last 8 years, so maybe you could try in a year or two?

Op 30 no 3 is a lot easier although some of the chords are trying - might be one to try first? I think its no 9.

Regards, they are lovely pieces, nice to hear I'm not the only one who admires them wishfully!

^op. 19, no. 2 is nice. Any chance we can hear a recording of you playing? I think it's moved up to number two on my list to learn.

From my edition of the Songs without Words, Mendelssohn is quoted as saying/writing:

"There is much talk about music, and yet so little is said. For my part, I believe that words are insufficient for such a purpose, and if I found they were sufficient, I would wish to have nothing more to do with music. People frequently complain that music is too ambiguous: that it is unclear to them what they should be thinking about whtn they hear it, whereas everyone understands words. For me, it is exactly the reverse. And that is not only for an entire speech, but even for individual words. These seem to me to be ambiguous, vague, and so easily misunderstood in comparison with real music which fills the soul with a thousand things expressed better than with words.

The thoughts I find expressed in music that I love are not too indefinite, but on the contrary, too definite to put into words. ... If you ask me what I was thinking when I wrote a certain piece, I would say: the song, just the song, as it stands. And if I should have happened to have certain words in mind for one or another of these songs, I would not like to tell them to anyone, because the same words never mean the same things to different people. Only the song can say the same thing and arouse the same feelings in one person as in another -- a feeling that cannot be expressed, however, by the same words."(1)

(1) Seldon-Goth, G., ed. Felix Mendelssohn Letters. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1969.


Interesting. I suppose one would expect him to be rolling over in his grave over the word titles attributed to the Songs without Words.

Check out the Mendelssohn Project website. The list of unpublished works is huge.

http://www.themendelssohnproject.org

It's a shame we didn't put on a recital in honor of his bicentennial.

I'm still working on getting it to sound how I want it to, as I learnt it on my Clavinova and I've just moved to my new acoustic, so I'm having to adapt a little! Thanks for asking though! Maybe later...!

The too young died componist......only 38 years old, the same range of short lifes and same emotions like Robert Schumann.

I particularly like the religious work of Felix B:
O for the wings of a dove; Hear my prayer-Psalm 55
I waited for the Lord from Lobgesang.....

Nice melodies, full of religious emotions; as ex-churchorganist (now pianist) I feel this music from my head to my toes, I like it.

Best regards,
Johan B

Booktip for intermediate to advanced pianolevel:

The essential collection Mendelssohn Gold / Kate Bradley /Chester music, London 2004

www.musicsales.com

hmmmm......does not seem to work......well google Chestermusic...

^Is this what you are looking at?

The Essential Collection: Mendelssohn Gold

Thanks for the completion....

Johan B

Among my favorite Mendelssohn is Op 17. Beautiful pieces; the first shows Bach's influence very clearly, and it's well within an intermediate player's grasp.

I love the Songs Without Words. I just bought the complete Schirmer Edition (it was on sale) and it is embarrassing how they are all named. I suppose the editor came up with the names? Things like "The Fleecy Cloud" and "Sadness of Soul". I don't think Mendelssohn intended any of that.

I am currently working on op 19 #4, and will probably submit that at the next ABF recital. I have a long list of them that I want to learn though.

And I just recently found out that he was an artist as well as a musician. Here's a sketch he did of the Thomasschule in Leipzig

What a nice sketch! I love the clarity of it - wouldn't mind having a print of this in my office -

Oh! Now I do I just right clicked and printed the picture. It's small, but I can hang it on a short dividing wall. Thanks, Sam.

Cathy

His "Scottish" symphony is one of my favorites! His Op14 Rondo Capriccioso and Emi Scherzo are great piano pieces as well.

If you do a google search for Mendelssohn art or Mendelssohn paintings or Mendelssohn drawings you can find several more.

Sam

I love his Op19 no2, it has a very sadness to it, and the ending with the last hearbeats, almost if someone died, or he was thinking of death. The piece has great meaning to me. His venetian boat songs are also amazing if played well, and lets not forget his amazing Albumblatt (which is much more beautifull if not played at full speed, imo). He was truly one of the greatest!

Harold Schoenberg's "The Great Pianists" has some good information on Mendelssohn as a virtuoso pianist. The entire book is a fun read.

@Sam Smith: I'm working on op. 19 no. 4 as well. It's a wonderful piece. I'm also working on no. 2 and still keeping no. 6 in reasonable shape. I'll probably just do something else for the recital though. I'm not completely happy with the sixteenth note passages.

Yes, the 16th note introduction is tough. I thought I was playing it OK until I listened to a recording. My right hand thumb is too heavy and loud - all the 16th notes are not of equal importance. The thumb notes should be subdued and the upper notes brought out more. Easy to say - hard to do.

And, of course, the intro is repeated at the end, so there are two opportunities to screw it up.

Have you posted a recording of 19/6? I'd love to hear it. Here's a question - are all of his Venetian boat songs in 3 (or 6) and a minor key?

Sam

thanks for the tip on the drawings, Sam - I'll look for them.

Cathy

EDIT: thought I had pushed quote from Sam Smith.

All the Venetians are in 6/8 and all are minor as well.

A few misses in it, but reasonable: Mendelssohn op. 19, no. 6

For op. 19, no. 4, I'm okay with the thumbs in the 16th note passages, it's the transition in bar three just prior to the dim. that is usually my downfall. I've been drilling that over and over a lot. For op. 19, no. 2 it's down to a few two bar parts really. I'd probably be done both if I spent more time practicing than playing.

Very nice job on 19/6. I remember listening to it before now. You do a good job bringing out the melody, something I always have a problem with.

I know what you mean about playing as opposed to practicing. I get caught up in the music and don't want to stop and work on a troublesome section.

My problem with 19/4 is, for instance, measure 2. The repeated "a" by the right hand thumb is too prominent.

What edition are you using? I just bought the Schirmer (editor: Sternberg) and I have some problems with the way the music is crowded on the page. Also the odd titles that have been given to everything (19/4 is "Confidence"), but that has nothing to do with the ease of reading the music. The fingerings are reasonable, but it seems a little heavy on the pedal.

Sam

Alfred Masterworks (Maurice Hinson) edition. I am very comfortable with the note density and visual contrast in Alfred's series. It has a spiral binding and some nice notes for teachers on the order of relative difficulties (your mileage may vary) and some reasonable words about each piece. Your pedal comment is interesting since it says here that "Pedal usage must be very subtle."

I used to have heavy thumbs (still do some times) and I am not sure what made it go away other than practice.

I only look at pedaling for where they say not to in general and then after I'm at the 90% happy phase I will listen to some recordings and start varying the tempo and playing things oddly to see what I like. I have gotten better over time at not pedaling as much, but I am still a bit of a lead-foot driver.

Titles. I mentioned before that Mendelssohn only named a few of the Songs Without Words, but now almost all of them have titles. I wish they weren't titled. There is too much baggage associated with words. Regrets, there is a loaded word for a title.

I really want to learn op. 53 no. 5 some day, but I've got such a gigantic list of pieces to learn and so little time.

I agree with Sam.

From a free podcast for my grade 5 (RIAM). Here they do an overview of the piece. The guy explaining is from the examining board.
http://www.box.net/shared/7ae980ra0q

I have this piece for grade 5. I'm starting it soon. Unfortunately using it for my exam expires by the time I'll take my first exam but I'm learning it anyway.

I'll pm his rendition of the piece.

Thanks for posting that Devane - very interesting. I've finally gotten 19/4 to the point where it is mostly memorized and I am trying to polish it - making final decisions on how much pedal to use, the phrasing, the dynamic changes, and so forth.

Sam

No problem. Its a pity they only spend a few minutes on each piece but still you get a few tips.

Thanks for the links Devane. What is everyone looking at for a tempo? My edition says quarter note for 72. Good points on bringing out the melody over the chords. I still need some work on that.

Here's my interpretation. A couple of kludgey bits, but reasonable. I'd play it in front of friends. Tempo is around 70 for the quarter.

Mendelssohn, op. 19, no. 4

great idea for a thread. I'd like to join in. I have been working on op85 no.2 for a few days and I would like to eventually have this piece memorised and up to performance. I spend too much time reading these days and not enough on completing. So I would like to join you guys in committing to this piece so that I don't abandon it after a few short efforts.

But since this is Mendelssohn appreciation, I'll say that I have made exciting discoveries to this piece already, the harmony is beautiful - definitely worth the investigation. I think I'm going to enjoy this journey. The piece is also called The Adieu.

canonie

I'd like to try and join you Canonie, but I think it might be a bit above my level with the tempo. I'll give it a go the next week and see if it fits my brain.

Thanks for the reply, Shoes
You are already helping my motivation, I will do a session right now and post how far I get. So far i've read through about 3 times and sorted fingering, I have a loose and unstable memory of 1st 10 bars and physical familiarity with the next 12.

I see a teacher about 4 times a year to keep me developing, and to make sure I continue to be useful to the beginners I teach ! This teacher showed me this piece and I fell for it for sure. Not making any promises about speed tho, adult restarter excuses apply here.
right - I'm off to work on it
just after this nice cup of tea...

That's great Shoes. Much faster than I can play it. The Schirmer edition suggests quarter note = 84. In my opinion that is too fast.

Here's my version of 19/4:

Mendelssohn 19/4

One hesitation and one bobble near the end. And my bench creaks.

I can do my own critical critique:
- too slow.
- thumbs are too loud.
- pedal is awkward in spots.

But I am pleased with the dynamics - I've learned to exaggerate them so they come through in a recording.

There's a month until the next ABF recital? Maybe I can speed it up some before then.

Sam

I love 85/2 also. "agitato". But it's too fast for me right now. I'm also working on 102/6, another one with great harmonies. I think it is probably easier that 19/4.

I have a long list of he Songs Without Words that I would like to do some day.

Sam

I can't wait to get home and listen to it Sam. I would agree that 84 is too fast. I think it would be less lyrical at 84. I've got a recording at about 72 and it's quite nice. I find too slow really does a disservice to the intro and ending sixteenth note passages. They rarely sound light like they should be (in my mind) below about the mid-sixties.

I'm hoping for op. 19, no. 2 for the recital, but I might fall back on a little Schumann from op. 15 to bail me out. I don't have as much time as I used to for bringing things up to a presentable stage for me for the recital.

Next on my list for Songs Without Words are:
op. 19, no.2, no. 1
op. 53 no. 5
and maybe op. 85, no. 2 as suggested by Canonie

Has anyone tried Consolation? It's supposed to be one of the easiest, but I found the voicing just unnatural to me. I can't sing it to save my life and my fingers can't find the notes at all, which is weird. Do our brains work in key signatures?

I just had a listen to Consolation. I've never played it, but recognise the piece. I'm guessing that there are just too many sharps! On the up side if you spend time with lots of sharps it's much easier the next piece you try in similar key. I'm trying to do a bit of sharp-loading at the moment (bit like carbo-loading but less fun).
So in answer to your question I reckon our brains definitely work in key signatures. Mine does.

I bet if you listened to it a lot while followingthe score it would help, also often a good idea to play the scale and the basic chords of the key before you begin reading the piece.

And I did make some progress on 85 no2. Have loosely memorised 14 bars. All slow, but feeling the touches and phrasing - bit of a work out for 4 and 5 of the RH.

Nice Sam. I'd let yourself be more liberal with the tempo coming out of the dim into the ritard at bars 24-25. It seemed a bit rigid there. I liked the dynamics moving from mf to p in bars 5-8. Although I'm not sure I sensed much difference volume-wise between the mf and f in bars 5 and bars 9. Just pull back bar 5 a bit and it would be better.

And yeah, watch the heavy thumb, but I don't think that that was actually that bad. Just a lighter overall touch maybe. Then maybe that's the idea you're getting out of Confidence. Curse those interpreted words.

I liked the bench creaking.

Only just got around to listening to your 19/4 listening right now actually. I am so impressed. I am quite new on the forum and I had thought it was populated with beginners - you sound very far from beginning The flow of dynamics is most engaging, nice work! Yes I can hear what you say about the thumb so look forward to hearing the light thumb version when you work this out.
Well I'm off to do some useful and focused practise now. And I will gradually listen to some more recordings from posters on this thread, but one at a time is nice (spread out the enjoyment).

canonie

Thanks Shoes and Canonie for your comments. I worked on 19/4 last night with the metronome, speeding it up one click at a time. That's going to take a while - but it's enjoyable work.

Is there any interest in a list of the Songs Without Words and their graded difficulty level? I compiled a list from the Piano World difficulty list and could post it in this thread. It's pretty subjective, but it might be of use to have that info in one spot for Mendelssohn fans.

Sam

^Do it. You can check the graded pieces list link in my signature for other options. But I could add in other boards as well. In my list you'll notice that the RCM and BC boards go from grade 1 to 10 while ABRSM only goes to 8 (to my knowledge) before the post grade exams. Generally this difference translates by a two grades for most pieces (i.e. grade 8 RCM = grade 6 RCM), although your mileage may vary.

Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words

Tempo and key information from the Wikipedia entry.
Grades are indicated at the end of each line, with the source of the grade in parentheses. The sources:
• ABRSM: American Board (United States)
• RCM: Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada)
• BC: British Columbia Conservatory of Music (Canada)
• PDF: PianoWorld PDF file of unknown origin

Op. 19 (1829-1830)
• 1 Andante con moto in E major #8(PDF) #9(BC)
• 2 Andante espressivo in A minor #6(PDF)
• 3 Molto allegro e vivace in A major ("Hunting Song") #7(PDF)
• 4 Moderato in A major #6(PDF) #6(BC)
• 5 Poco agitato in F-sharp minor #8(PDF)
• 6 Andante sostenuto in G minor ("Venezianisches Gondellied" [Venetian Boat Song] No. 1) #6(PDF)

Op. 30 (1833-1834)
• 1 Andante espressivo in E-flat major #7(PDF)
• 2 Allegro di molto in B-flat minor #7(PDF)
• 3 Adagio non troppo in E major #5(PDF) #7(BC)
• 4 Agitato e con fuoco in B minor #8(PDF)
• 5 Andante grazioso in D major #8(PDF) #10(BC)
• 6 Allegretto tranquillo in F-sharp minor ("Venezianisches Gondellied" or Venetian Boat Song No. 2) #6(PDF) #7(BC)

Op. 38 (1836-1837)
• 1 Con moto in E-flat major #8(PDF)
• 2 Allegro non troppo in C minor #8(PDF) #9(BC) #10(BC)
• 3 Presto e molto vivace in E major #8(PDF)
• 4 Andante in A major #6(PDF)
• 5 Agitato in A minor #8(PDF)
• 6 Andante con moto in A-flat major ("Duetto") #8(PDF) #9(BC)

Op. 53 (1839-1841)
• 1 Andante con moto in A-flat major #7(PDF)
• 2 Allegro non troppo in E-flat major #6(PDF)
• 3 Presto agitato in G minor #7(PDF)
• 4 Adagio in F major #6(PDF)
• 5 Allegro con fuoco in A minor ("Volkslied") #6(PDF)
• 6 Molto Allegro vivace in A major #8(PDF)

Op. 62 (1842-1844)
• 1 Andante espressivo in G major #6(PDF) #7(ABRSM)
• 2 Allegro con fuoco in B-flat major #6(PDF)
• 3 Andante maestoso in E minor ("Trauermarsch") #6(PDF)
• 4 Allegro con anima in G major #6(PDF)
• 5 Andante con moto in A minor ("Venezianisches Gondellied" or Venetian Boat Song No. 3) #7(PDF)
• 6 Allegretto grazioso in A major ("Frühlingslied" or "Spring Song") #7(PDF)

Op. 67 (1843-1845)
• 1 Andante in E-flat major #7(PDF)
• 2 Allegro leggiero in F-sharp minor #7(PDF)
• 3 Andante tranquillo in B-flat major #6(PDF)
• 4 Presto in C major ("Spinnerlied") #8(PDF) #10(BC)
• 5 Moderato in B minor #6(PDF)
• 6 Allegro non troppo in E major #7(PDF)

Op. 85 (1834-1845)
• 1 Andante espressivo in F major #6(PDF) #9(BC)
• 2 Allegro agitato in A minor #6(PDF)
• 3 Presto in E-flat major #7(PDF)
• 4 Andante sostenuto in D major #7(PDF)
• 5 Allegretto in A major #6(PDF)
• 6 Allegretto con moto in B-flat major #7(PDF)

Op. 102 (1842-1845)
• 1 Andante un poco agitato in E minor #8(PDF)
• 2 Adagio in D major #6(PDF)
• 3 Presto in C major #7(PDF) #9(BC)
• 4 Un poco agitato, ma andante in G minor #6(PDF) #10(BC)
• 5 Allegro vivace in A major ("Kinderstück") #6(PDF)
• 6 Andante in C major #5(PDF)

Send me a PM for edits and changes.

Sam

Nice Sam. I think those ratings are pretty reasonable as I'd rate myself around grade 5-6 from the PDF file and grade 7-8 in the BC/RCM range.

My edition of the Songs Without Words also lists, numbers in progressive order of difficulty, the following:

Intermediate
9,4,6,12,14,48,25,28,33,19,35

Late Intermediate
37,41,13,29,46,45,22,20,1,38,7,42

Early Advanced
36,47,16,26,30,40,3,10,27,31,5,39

Advanced
23,8,44,11,34,43,32,15,18,17,21,24

Just count down Sam Smith's list for the numbers.

I did an interesting survey of tempos in 19/4 last night by using the itunes preview and youtube recordings and a metronome program that allowed me to set the tempo by clicking on the beats. On itunes you just get 30 seconds, and they often did not include the beginning, which is the section I am interested in for picking a tempo, so the results are not very accurate. But they are interesting.

Anyway, here are the (totally unscientific) results:

Peter Nagy - 60-64, lots of rubato
Daniel Barenboim - 62-66, lots of rubato
Renate Schorler - 84-90, lots of rubato
Daniel Gortier - 70-74, lots of rubato
Livia Rev - 76-80, slows down to 58-64 after intro, lots of rubato
Barbara Meister - 60-70, lots of rubato
Ilse von Alpenheim - 50-60, lots of rubato

The Nagy recording is the one that I own and that I have listened to over and over, so it has prejudiced me in favor of his tempo choices.

And there are some interesting recordings of arrangements of the Songs w/o words out there in the wilds of the internets - cello, violin, guitar, clarinet, and so on.

Sam

Here's my "final" recording of the Song Without Words Op. 19/4, the same one that I submitted to the ABF recital #16.

Song Without Words Op. 19/4

If anyone else has recordings of Mendelssohn's music, let's post them here so we can keep track of them. They can be works in progress as well as complete.

I'm working now on 102/6. When I get it to a point where it's presentable I'll post a recording for critique.

Sam

Hi everyone,

I've only recently discovered Mendelssohn's mastery and I very much admire his work. I aspire to play more as I get more experience under my belt.

Here are 2 "works in progress" video recordings testing out my new Flip HD camera.

Op. 30 #3 Consolation
Op. 19 #4 Moderato


Cheers,
Ode2Joy

Sam,

Thank you very much for this list. It's very nice of you to do this for us.

Who is you avatar, by the way? It looks like Charles Ives.

Both of these are very nice. I love the 30/3, especially the alteration in the phrases between major and minor. Your recordings are great, with excellent dynamics.

Sam

Yes, that's a closeup of the Charles Ives US postage stamp. I can't play his piano sonata though - it's way beyond my abilities. I admire him because he was essentially an amateur musician, doing his own thing.

Sam

I really enjoyed the recordings Ode2Joy. Thanks for sharing those. Very nice dynamics and really controlled playing.

Thanks HomeInMyShoes and Sam for listening.

@Sam: And especially for creating and posting the graded Songs Without Words list. I'll be asking for some Mendelssohn music for Christmas, and having a list like that is helpful so I have something that is reachable and not too far above my head.

^Anything that's way over my head becomes stuff I struggle through every now and then to see how bits and pieces of technique are improving and for sight reading.

I looked at op. 53 no. 5 (Folk Song) on Tuesday night again. It's a disaster, but not as bad a disaster as previously. And the descending double triplets are just so fun. Now those doubled octave chords on the last page.

I know this is OT, but in my youth I made a pilgrimage to Danbury with some friends for the Ives Centennial Celebration. We visited his house, his and Harmony Ives' graves, and the day ended with a performance of his music by the American Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and Leonard Bernstein.

A great day.

^That's completely on topeic. Did you happen to have any old photos of the home you could post?

We couldn't go inside, and the city had moved the house to a big empty lot by a pond and had it facing away from the road. (I have no idea why.) I remember that we did take pictures, but they're just of this old yellow house that seems to be staring forlornly at a pond in an empty lot. Rather depressing, really.

I should do some research to see if they ever did anything more with the house and the property.

On the way to Danbury, we stopped at Yale and met with John Kirkpatrick and talked about Ives' piano works. He was very nice and accommodating. (He always faced towards us, and not once did he stare at a pond.)

Well, this attempt didn't go nearly as well as hoped. A couple of real ugly flubs in spots that don't warrant flubs.

Anyway I would like some feedback on tempo, dynamics, overall interpretation. It's a work in progress needing some more work.

Currently I'm working on: op. 19 nos. 2 and 4; op. 30 no. 6; and I started a bit of op. 53 no. 5.

Mendelssohn, op. 19 no. 2.

I can already hear quite a few melody issues. I think I'm going to (pun)regret posting this in this state.

Question.

Op. 53 no. 5; Measure 23. I'm looking at a B E G# in the right hand, which looks like an E chord and then a G (natural) and E in the left hand. It sounds unbelievably terrible and completely out of character for Mendelssohn.

Can anyone confirm it's a G(natural) or G# in the left hand? All the recordings I'm listening to sound like a G# in the left hand as well. Seems like odd notation not to indicate a # in the left if it's supposed to be there.

The Schirmer edition has a g# in the left and right hands on the third beat.

And the one at imslp.org has g# too. Looks like that one is from the 19th Century.

So that's 2 out of 3 votes for g#. What edition do you have that has a g?

Sam

Home in my shoes you do play that beautifully Your flubs didn't ruin my enjoyment becuase your playing flows along so nicely. The beginning is so delicate and lovely. I still haven't worked out if my laptop has a built in mike... I should lean sideways and look, no! not now - all too hard. I'll pounce on the next technical proficient who visits. If the recordings posted here are anything to go by, recording is very very good for improving your playing. Well done all you!

I haven't had such good progress on my mendelssohn (85 no2) because my RH is not developed enough yet to play those stretches at speed. I have to take it in smaller practice doses. I have to make sure I don't hurt myself. The other thing I found is that the coordination of the 2 parts in the RH at speed is... ? beyond me, as if it is a different language altogether. I suspect I give up too easily and go on to other pieces. I'm just not used to trying hard, been cruising for too long. Ok off to work on it again.

Pretty good job, actually. I think the tempo is fine, and the interpretation. Id like to hear more difference in the dynamics. In the beginning, for instance, the crescedo into the third measure is great, but the p in measure 5 sounds about like the mf in the beginning. Overall I think we could all make our soft passages softer for more contrast, especially with the amateur recording techniques that we all use.

Nicely done HIMS. Nice control with dynamics and good execution on the trills. I'm not familiar with this piece so I cannot offer any suggestions as to interpretation.

Cheers!

Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to say how excited I am to find this page today! You are doing a great job with this group, it is absolutely wonderful and I would love to be a part of it. I've been working on Songs without Words on and off for over a year now, and since I haven't had a piano lessons in six years (where I attained ABRSM Grade 7), I really would absolutely love both feedback and encouragement. Due to a leave of absence from work, I've been practicing piano for at least two hours every day, and just started a blog about it.

So, I'm at a good level with 53/1 'On the Seashore' and 85/1 'Reverie', and am currently working on 62/1 'May Breezes' and 85/4 'Elegy'. I would love to record them for you to hear, but unfortunately I've tried with my laptop recorder and mic, and the quality just sounds terrible.

Anyway, I have a few questions, that if anyone could answer, it would be great: in 85/1, I'm unsure about the off-beats between right and left hand, eg. 3rd bar. In this instance, I am playing R C with L F and C, then R A and L F together, followed by R G and L A together. Do you think that is correct? Secondly, the 'hairpins' above the treble chef lines on the second page, does this indicate the dynamics for right hand only? Finally, I am little confused as to how Mendelssohn's numbering system works--does anyone have any insight into this, or a good website to look at?

Finally, I am going to work on 85/2 with Canonie and 19/2 with Sam Smith. 85/2 - this is my first time looking at the piece, my initial thought is the relief that playing in C Major brings! :-) Sam - I think that your recording of 19/2 is just lovely. You have a nice contrapuntal style, you've really mastered those grace notes and I find your interpretation of the final chords very interesting.

Oh, and both pieces I find really interesting, as you can distinctly hear M's Baroque influence. I'm actually reading a book now that briefly discusses the influence of Bach's WTC in the collection, it's Kirby Music for Piano: A Short History (Portland: Amadeus, 1995).

Welcome Sarah. That's "Home in My Shoes" that plays 19/2 so well, not me. Maybe one day I can play it as well as he does.

85/1 is tough. The measure you are talking about is a polyrhythm, 6 in the bass against 4 in the treble, or 3 against 2 if you count the eighth notes. The recording that I have (by Peter Nagy) he is playing it slowly, so it's really 3 against 2, except that he plays the last sixteenth in that measure as if it were the same length as a triplet sixteenth, which is how the notation indicates it. The first two sixteenths in the right hand in that measure are played as 3 against 2. Sometimes the right hand is played as 3 against 2, sometimes it isn't. You're just going to have to feel it, and listen to some recordings.

Anyway, welcome to the Mendelssohn thread and I can't wait to hear you play.

Sam

Hi Sarah
Welcome from me too. I'm very excited to hear that you are going to learn 85 no.2 as well. I am relatively new to these forums so have not yet had the experience of learning a piece alongside someone else. So stick around and we can compare notes (and woes). I look forward to this

If your initial thought was "relief at C major" your second thought will definitely be "oh, A minor!" LOL I'll be most interested in your next thoughts - as I wrote before, the coordination and speed of this little piece have been a bigger challenge than I was expecting. The other difficulty for me is that I've found that my RH was not physically ready for the piece, so I have learnt it a bit, left it for a week or 2, had another go and so on.

I began teaching piano accidentally a few years ago and lately have been making the effort to take my playing to a higher level, and get some breadth of repertoire so that I can be of use to students as they begin to tackle intermediate pieces. It's quite exciting to be learning and teaching at the same time. I have lots of broad musical skills so I am not out of my depth with students by any stretch, but I would really like to be ready to lead them down a good path.

I have an excellent teacher who I go to occasionally and am looking forward to a lesson tomorrow YAY where i will ask why 85 no2 can hurt a bit, whether I should approach it any differently. I will keep you posted.

Interested to hear about Mendelssohn's connection to Bach, I really have to buy a good edition of all the songs without words i think. I'd borrowed my teachers for a bit but having returned it i think it's time to go shopping. [i would assume that those hairpins refer to RH only by their location].

One of the things I'm working on is to learn (properly!) some Bach Inventions, and memorising them at the same time. This has been just wonderful! No way could I play these when I was a kid, and now I can learn the easier one's so quickly.. so practice really works hehe.

Welcome to the forum sarahplayspiano. Sam needs to post his newer 19/4 from the recital here.

I haven't figured out the last chords of 19/2. What I recorded was something I've tried twice now. I completely ignored the pedal indications in the version I've got and went with something that made sense to me. Not sure if it does, but I've played it a few different ways and never quite found what makes sense to me.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Hoping to hear some more stuff out of everyone, finished or in-progress. It's nice to bounce ideas off everyone.

Thank you for your kind welcomes! :-) And thanks for reminding me Canonie about the existence of minor keys lol. I guess you can really tell how little theory or formal training I've had in so long...

Regarding Bach: here's a very obscure but fascinating article I found in archives from the NYT about Mendelssohn and JS Bach:

http://www.box.net/shared/8rqmeuvcuf

As for collections of SWW, I have the Schirmer Library edition, which is a pretty thorough collection and I'm happy with it, but it's not complete by any means (Op. 20-29 missing for instance). I think the only complete collection currently in print is the Kalmus:

http://www.amazon.com/Mendelssohn-Withou...191&sr=1-2.

I've started work on 19/2 and 85/2, but really don't know how I'm going to do a decent recording on my laptop. Does anyone have any tips on this?

I've never heard of the Op. 20-29. Op 26 is The Hebrides, so maybe you're thinking of something else?

I have the Schirmer edition too, and there are two things I don't like about it - the silly titles and the music is cramped on the page. I would love to get an urtext edition like the Henle.

I ordered the biography by Larry Todd - I'm still waiting on it to arrive. I'll report back when I have had time to look it over.

Sam

Thanks Sam, I've decided to get the schirmer as I really liked the fingering in all but 2 bars of 85 no2, so I'm assuming the finger editor suits me. Yeah the music is sort of small, but i'm not minding too much (my eyes are good).

Thanks for the obscure article sarah, am remembering references to bach's influence on M from uni studies, had forgotten...

Had my lesson today, and am feeling much more confident about my progress on this piece, and it didnt hurt at all today in the lesson. I am holding the notes in the RH parts enough to apply pedal at speed later, so that's a relief Perhaps I hadn't done quite enough Hands Together in the early stages, as I was very focused on RH techniq, but my coordination is ok for most of it. So current status is: can play all through very slowly with quite a few hesitations (at least a dozen?). Do post descriptions of ur progress as you go.
Now it is time for me to speed it up Look forward to that.

And there is no mike on my laptop, had a thorough look at all the little holes and symbols. I'll have to get an external mike. Sometime...

I feel so pedestrian with my Alfred's edition of the Songs. I do like the contrast and note size so it's easy to read off of and I'll give another thumbs up for a spiral binding.


What I worked on today:

op. 19 no. 2 certainly sounds at least Baroquesque if not like Bach to my ears. Odd that I would work on that one given my complete lack of technique for all things Baroque.

Sounds good Canonie. Some days I'm jealous of the people with teachers. I know I could make better progress on some things with one, but it's just not going to happen right now.

op. 19, no. 2: played the entire work at half tempo (I'm experimenting with a bit of slow practice at times for things) and drilled measures 17-22 and 45-62.

op. 19, no. 4: still working on the opening and closings to get them smoother. Worked on tempo as well and played the opening bars staccato, legato without pedal, and with a eighth/sixteenth alternating rhythm to try to separate my brain into the notes better.

op. 30, no. 6: I've still got a few gigantic pauses (bars 32/33 and bars 44/45 where the left hand descends against the trill) and I seem to want to add another triplet into measure 47. I think actually just sitting down and reading the patterns away from the piano will help sort that out.

op. 53, no. 5: just played through it again slowly. Counting is going to be the key for me as well as ironing out measuers 56-73. A relaxed feel is also going to be important with all the big chords and octaves. This one might be a bit beyond me right now.

H.I.M.s.
I only have a few lessons a year at present. If you ever are in position to have lessons you might be able to do the same because you obviously work so well on your own. Motivated adults with a good notebook don't always need frequent lessons. Anyway, keep up the mendelssohn addiction

I'll look at the Alfred's edition too (when I get to shopping). My teacher had the Schirmer so that's why I though i'd get it. But the main reason I need the book is so that I can refer to it when reading this thread without having to go to IMSLP or ISMLP or whateveritis.

ciao for now
(that's my 201st post Hurray! what a sad addict I am )

Here's my rough draft of 102/6.

Song Without Words 102/6

This is one of the "easier" Songs w/o Words, probably a grade 5. I kept track of my practice time this time - 9 hours 5 minutes to this point. Criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome. It's too slow, I think. The beginning seems slow, but the beginning is simple, and later on things are more difficult. There's at least one bobble where I missed a bass note in the left hand.

Problem areas:
measures 13-14 - sort of a theme and answer.
measures 27-28 - piano - I had to memorize these two measure to play them
measures 28 to end. That's a B-D-F-Ab-C chord - a ninth chord with the ninth in the base - a fourth inversion...

Sam

Sorry for the late response Sam. Just been crazy busy the last little while. I've missed five pages of the piano bar I need to catch up on too.

Nine hours doesn't seem like too much for the shape you've gotten the piece in. Sounds in quite good shape. Could be a little zippier as you said. Not too much though. Sounds in the 70ish range already. Watch the dynamics, overall I thought they were good, but I noticed in bars 32-34 that you started the crescendo a little early. You could really push the (dim) further and softer before starting the crescendo. And watch the melody in places it could be a bit more distinct. It's something I know I fight with a lot.

Thanks, Shoes. I think 102/6 is one of the easier ones. It's very similar to 19/4 without the sixteenth note beginning and ending.

Sam

Just finished reading the biography "Mendelssohn - A Life in Music" by R. Larry Todd. It's a very detailed biography intended for the music student - over 550 pages of facts.

Lots of interesting things - Mendelssohn was the son of a wealthy Jewish banker and the grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His family was among the tiny minority of Jews in Germany that were not treated as second-class citizens - or worse. He and his sister were baptized as Lutherans, as were his parents, and Felix wrote a lot of Church music.

He was a child prodigy, compared favorably to Mozart. He had perfect pitch, and there are many stories of his feats of improvisation at the piano, even in front of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. He was instrumental in reviving the music of J.S. Bach.

For many years he was the music director in Leipzig, and everyone who was anyone in the world of music visited him - Clara and Robert Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Jenny Lind, Berlioz, and his sister Fanny Mendelssohn. He even had lunch with Charles Dickens.

The Songs without Words were composed over a number of years and gathered into sets of six so that they complemented each other and each set formed a small cycle. They were not given titles, except rarely. The silly titles that they bear now were added by later editors. Opus 67 was the last volume that Felix published. The rest were published posthumously. 38/6 (the duet) was a wedding gift to his wife. 62/3 was played at his funeral.

He died at 39, the same year that his sister Fanny died. She was a few years older than he was, and it seems that Felix suppressed her desire to publish her own music. Just before her death she did publish a few of her own Songs without words.

So it's an excellent biography, well worth it as a reference to the life and works of Felix Mendelssohn.

Glad to see this thread. Mendelssohn deserves more appreciation.

Elene

Thank you very much Sam, not playing my Mendellsohn at the moment (it's resting shhhhh) but it is always good to read something about the composer for later inspiration.

Listening to ABFer's works in progress, and works rather polished has been an engaging way to get to know more of these pieces. Enjoying Sam's 102 right now, and I like the hymn-quality of the composition. Perhaps someone has set it to words? Sam you seem to get a huge dynamic range on my tiny laptop. Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing this.
Canonie

Mendelssohn - A Life in Music Todd, auth. 25.60 paper cover 736pp ISBN 9780195179880 Oxford University Press

Thanks for the recommendation--- I love musician biographies. I have one or two others published by Oxford that seem readable, yet very informative and reliably-researched. A 736 page book at $25.00 is not such a bad deal.

Hi everyone,

time to revive this thread!

I am working on 19/6 as well, and the start of the 2nd page (after the repeated staccato D's) is giving me a lot of trouble.

If I do it RH only, I just don't have the chops yet to bring out the melody properly while having a cleanly articulated middle voice. So my teacher suggested playing the bass octaves and then the middle voice with my LH. This of course allows much better articulation and separation of the voices, but I wonder if I'll ever get the jumps from the bass to the treble fast and clean enough...

What do you guys do in this measure?

I'm glad to see that Mendelssohn has his own thread! I don't play piano (yet -I'm about a week into beginner lessons) but I do listen to music, and Mendelssohn is a favorite. I love his Songs Without Words.



I was wondering about something I heard in a lecture this weekend about Chopin. The lecturer brought up Fanny Mendelssohn as an example of how women weren't encouraged to take on music as anything more than a leisure activity, and the example given was Fanny, whose brother discouraged her from publishing her music, but later regretted it and spent the rest of his life after she died championing and getting her music published. I thought the speaker alluded as if this was Felix, but he died so closely after her, that the timing doesn't seem right. Didn't he have a stroke when he heard that she died and wasn't really well for the next few months, until he died himself? I know there was a second brother - could that have been who the lecturer was referring to? Maybe I read Felix into it.

I'm working on 19/6 too. I only play the bass notes with the left hand and everything else with the right. I'll have to try it the other way at tonight's practice session and report back...

I have a Schirmer edition that indicates pedal all through those measures. I didn't like that idea. I finally got an urtext edition - now I can make up my own mind about what to do.

Sam

hmm pedal, really? mine is marked non-legato. I did use pedals on every 8th, which wouldn't be necessary if the LH does the middle voice. What does the Urtext say?

I am using the Peters edition from IMSLP: http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5/51/IMSLP00651-Songs_Without_Words__Op_19.pdf

No pedal in that section at all. Very little pedal elsewhere in 19/6. Of course, the pianos were different back then, and composers did not mark pedal that often or very consistently.

I'll check it tonight and let you know which measures have pedal marked.

Sam

The Henle urtext edition for 19/6 only has a few pedal markings. This edition is based on first editions and manuscripts.

measure 22 first beat - pedal down
measure 23 last beat - pedal up
measure 34 first beat - pedal down
measure 36 below the staff - "sempre" pedal
measure 40 beat 3 - pedal up

There are no other pedal markings. I've tried playing it like this, and it's pretty dry in the measures with no pedal (and difficult to play) and muddy when the pedal is held down. Of course, Mendelssohns's piano probably had less sustain than a modern piano.

To use one pedal change per measure, like the Schirmer edition has, is way too much pedal for my taste. Two pedal changes per measure is still too much for me. So I use something closer to a pedal per beat. This makes the left hand low bass notes more detached, which might be closer to what Mendelssohn wanted, since they are usually marked with a dot, and it helps me connect things. It is marked sostenuto and cantabile.

I prefer using the urtext and making my own decisions. And the urtext doesn't have the silly titles, which I really hate - Mendelssohn did not give the Songs without Words those silly titles.

Anyway, I hope to play 19/6 for the next ABF recital, if I can work out some remaining little problems.

Sam

Sam, thanks for a lot for the information! 19/6 is going to be my entry as well, can't wait to hear yours!

I played mostly with a pedal change to take out the bass note for the remaining 2/3 in each half-measure, then another pedal change after each LH group. Almost no pedal for the staccato 16th in measure 10, and right now experimenting with pedalling in measures 26-31.

I think I'll end up with 8th pedal or so for most of it on the digital - but I suspect once the grand arrives I'll use none or almost none on that one. Tricky piece!

Fanny died first, then Felix six months later. Their family had a history of heart problems, so I don't think Felix died of a broken heart over Fanny. He had a wife and kids of his own, after all.

Felix did advise Fanny not to publish - her father did the same thing, telling her that music could only be an ornament in her life. She did publish a few things in her lifetime. Felix may have published some of her works under his name.

If Fanny hadn't been rich - or if her family hadn't been rich (bankers) - she might have been another Clara Wieck Schumann. She was an excellent player, and played with Felix at musical evenings at home when they were growing up in Berlin. These were not little parties of family and a couple of friends, but free concerts with a lot of people attending. If Fanny had been forced to support a family or had an undependable husband like Clara she might have gone onto the concert stage. Fanny and Clara were contemporaries and knew each other.

Anyway, it's fun to speculate and play the "what if?" game.

Sam

Cool! The more Mendelssohn the better!

Sam

I might be doing 30/6, but haven't decided. 19/2 is an option as well as a few Chopin (I didn't say that name in this thread) Mazurkas. I'm not really happy with anything right now and I'm not getting a lot of time to make anything better so it's probably going to end up being a throw a lot of stuff at the recorder and see what sticks.

I used quite a bit of pedal when I was working on 19/6 (it's in one of the previous recitals, 2 or 3 back I think). I think it all works really as it is speculation as to what is really meant by Felix on it. I do believe we can look at the title here as it's one of the only one's he did title and take that as an indication of the rhythm. I think most tempo's for it are too fast and I think I played it too fast in the recital attempting to play at the marked tempo. It loses that pole push I think it should have when played too fast.

Anyway. Best of luck working it out and figuring out your interpretations and have fun. It's a brilliant little piece.

What I didn't realize when I posted this painting so long ago is that Bach lived and worked in that building. His office was on the right just above the small arched gate. The building is no longer there.

Sam

Time to add your recordings of 19/6 to the thread Sam Smith and Bunneh. They were very enjoyable in the recital and should be here.

Here was my 30/6 for the recital: op 19 no 6

Currently, I'm giving a reasonable look (more than just sight reading through a bit and tossing it into the pile, kind of look) at 53/1. It is probably beyond me to get this anywhere near the dotted quarter at 92. andante con moto. But I'm still maintaining 19/2 and 19/4, although not polishing them up to a good recording yet and there's always 53/3, but I think that one is in the postponed pile.

Hey Sam - I first saw that watercolor of M's in a biography on Bach by C. Wolff - I had a sort of 'look upon my works and despair' moment - how accomplished he was -

OK, here's my 19/6:

Mendelssohn Song Without Words Opus 19 #6

53/1 and 53/3 are both good choices. I would dearly love to do 53/5, the "Volkslied". I love the way it is so dramatic. And there is always 62/3, "Trauermarsch", that I want to do some day. But right now I am working on 19/2. There are so many good ones that will just have to wait until I get better.

Sam

I read that biography too - which is how I realized that Bach lived and worked in that building. It's amazing how talented Mendelssohn was.

Sam

I like this recording....nice work HomeInMyShoes.........very sensitive

Best regards,
Johan B

Thanks Johan B. It was a bit of work getting it to that point.

Yep, 53/3 is a doozy. I love the quick triplets against the chords of the beginning, middle breaks and end. I'll have to look at 62/3. My familiarity with the Songs isn't the best outside of a few. 53/1 and 53/3 were completely unknown to me until last year really. The real reason I picked up an edition is still eluding me. A couple of attempts into 19/1 have left me feeling that my brain and hands are just not in the right place yet. But that failure has left me with a lot of wonderful finds.

It's nice to communicate with other musiclovers all over the world. I like that. I think you have the same love/addiction to pianomusic like me.

And indeed...sometimes playing particular, special compositions are a hell of a job......I worked today at Fantasie BWV904...very nice but hard to play it real good.

Since friday I have the diagnosis of Dupuytren's disease......made my pianolife more difficult......I knew it for myself but two days ago I got the official diagnose from a MD.....

I think I will make many recordings so long it goes.....but music will still be a way of living for me....

Best regards,
Johan B

I bought an album of all the Songs Without Words and listen to it every now and then. There are a lot of less well known ones that are very beautiful. 62/3 was played at his funeral. 38/6 was a wedding present to his wife - but I would need three hands to play that one.

Sam

^Which recording do you have. I've got the Ilse von Alpenheim recording, but I hadn't listened carefully to much of it prior to last year. Okay, 62/3 is the sometimes referred to as Funeral March (I'll say sometimes since I don't think it was one of the few that Mendelssohn actually gave word titles to).

Op. 62 looks like another great sequence if one was going to learn one set of the Songs. Op. 19 would be my other pick so far, but that's probably still because 19/1 is so high on my list to work on (and having three of the others reasonably under control makes it almost seem possible within my lifetime.

@Johan B: I'm hopeful that you are able to manage with the Dupuytren's. Addiction is a good way to describe music.

I have the recording by Nagy - it's pretty good.

62/3 was named by Mendelssohn I think - Trauermarsch. Lots of big majestic chords. The hard part for me would be the triplet 32nd notes - not to be confused with the triplet 16th notes elsewhere. It's a "part song", which means that I can imagine it sung by a choir.

Which brings up the question of how many categories the Songs Without Words fall into. I can think of four at least:

1 - The boat songs - minor key, triple time.
2 - part songs - imagine them sung by a choir, sometimes with a contrasting beginning and ending, like 19/4 and 62/3. Mendelssohn was a master at composing for chorus.
3 - songs - an obvious solo vocal line, usually in the soprano but can be anywhere, with a pianistic accompaniment, like 19/2.
4 - the one duet, which alternates between melody in the soprano and the tenor. Maybe this could be lumped in with #3.

Any others?

Sam

My edition categorizes the songs as four types, but says that some feature one or more types in them. In general it defines the Songs as "a short piano piece in three-part (rarely expanded) song form (A B A) whose theme is songlike in character and has regular antecedent and consequent phrases of each length."

The four types in my book are:
1 - solo song (melody above the accompaniment)
2 - accompanied duet, which includes duetto and the venetians
3 - choral song (many part harmonies)
4 - more instrumental type (over the vocal lyrical quality of many of the first three categories).

Mendelssohn? - ICK!

Schubert? - ||: ICK! :||

(Schubert was fond of repeats...)

Sam

Just kidding - actually I like - um -um - what's his name?

I love Mendelssohn! Forgive me if I'm repeating what someone else has said, but I've only have time to skim the posts. Have you heard his two concerti for 2 pianos? They are fantastic!

Here's my recording of 19/6 from the recital! Still played on the digital, not the new grand... Gotta update this in a few weeks when the voicing is done and I have my recording equipment together. Thanks for listening

http://www.box.net/shared/fib64lpfan

Here's my recording of 19/2 that was just up in the ABF recital:

Mendelssohn Song Without Words 19/2

The subtle variations in each presentation of the theme made this difficult to learn. Each time the theme returns it is slightly different, and those differences must have been important to Mendelssohn - why else have them? So I did my best to keep them straight.

Getting this to about 90% was easier than the previous ones I have done. Either I am getting better or this one is a little easier for me - probably the latter. I still play it a little slow, and mistakes always seem to creep in.

So I have started working on 19/3, and it is very different. Molto Allegro e vivace, F and FF and big octave runs and chords. I think I can handle the allegro - not sure about the vivace part.

Sam

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I just heard a live performance on the radio this evening of Mendelssohn's 2nd symphony Lobgesang or 'Hymn of Praise'. I had not heard it complete for some years.

Incredible! It came on as I was driving home, I quickly ditched the car in the garage, and immediately turned on the radio when I got to the apartment. I tell you, there is not a dull moment, it held my attention the whole time.

One section in the last movement, 'I waited for the Lord', has been beautifully recorded by King's College Choir (Mendelssohn effectively Anglicanized), but of course female singers were used in this broadcast.

I love all of the Mendelssohn symphonies, especially the Scottish, but I do wish this wonderful piece -with an almost white-hot inspiration- would be more often performed. No Beethoven 9th of course, but that's a hard act to follow.

Don't miss it!

Thanks Jason, I've never heard his second symphony - I'll have to look it up. And it's been years since I heard the Scottish Symphony but it was always one of my favorites.

Looks like there will be at least two Mendelssohn selections in the upcoming ABF recital to listen to - both from opus 19.

Sam

It's been three months - time to revive the Mendelssohn Appreciation thread again.

Here is 19/3 which I submitted to the ABF recital XX:

Mendelssohn opus 19 #3

This is the loud and boisterous member of opus 19. It should probably be much faster, but that's the best I can do right now. I have a recording by Barenboim in which he plays it about twice as fast as I do.

It's a great training piece. I had never done octave runs before - there are two in this piece. They start out forte and descend, ending in piano. Very challenging and fun to learn. There are also big jumps in the left hand from octave base notes up to 4 note chords. I practiced those at different speeds and different rhythms - I still can't play them accurately. The ending is also challenging, with 16th note runs in the treble and the melody in chords in the bass. Starts out Fortissimo and fades slowly over 24 measures to pianissimo. That requires coordination that I didn't seem to have at first - eventually I caught on and was at least able to get through it.

Did I mention staccato? I should have. Lots of staccato marks sprinkled through the score - it gives the phrases character. The octave runs are staccato. It takes a good bit of courage to take the foot off the pedal and go for it. Sounds awkward at slow speeds, but as I increased the tempo it sounded better and better.

So it's a very challenging piece. It's also fun to play the loud parts. I think it's about grade 7.

Oddly enough, it wasn't that hard to memorize. The patterns are repeated over and over with different chords, and there are plenty of little things to use as memory keys (for instance, the first octave run begins on b and descends, using every black key).

So I would highly recommend this one because it's fun to play and it teaches a lot of techniques that are needed.

Next - 19 #1. I've got it about 2/3 memorized now...

Sam

I'm one of those who think that Mendelssohn always deserves attention.

I sing in a church choir, and for our last concert we sang two Mendelssohn pieces "How lovely are the messenger" from the oratorium "St. Paul" and "Lift thine eyes" from "Elijah".

When i found these boys singing Lift thine eyes/Hebe deine Augen auf I found it very beutiful and impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoCYH3pZKHQ

Ragnhild

I just started watching the BBC mini-series "Middlemarch" that's based on the novel by George Elliot.

At one point Rosamunde (the prettiest girl in town) is sitting at the piano and playing Mendelssohn's opus 19#1. As soon as she starts my wife says, "That's your piece!". I was happy she recognized it from my playing.

Sam