4 Lieder

arranged for viiolin and piano by Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer

Suleika Op. 34 No. 4 (1837)

Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song) Op. 34 No. 2 (1835)

Hexenlied (Witches’ Dance) Op. 8 No. 8 (1826)

Scheidend (Daparting) Op. 9. No. 6 (1830)

As the inventor of the song without words, Mendelssohn would probably not have been too antagonistic to the idea of the song with words without words. Certainly, in this case he would find no violence done to his music, no keyboard elaborations, arbitrary harmonic departures or frank recomposition of the kind he must have detested in Liszt’s solo-piano versions of his songs, including Auf Flügeln des Gesanges and Suleika. Here the vocal line is simply transferred to the violin and the piano part remains unaltered. Of course, with Suleika and Auf Flügeln des Gesanges there is no question of chamber-music participation between the two instruments since the piano part consists of little more than broken chords. Hexenlied, on the other hand, with a virtuoso piano writing characteristic of Mendelssohn in supernatural mode, could almost have been written for violin and piano in the first place. And in Scheidend the pianist’s left hand does occasionally have a relevant if brief comment to make.