Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words) in D major Op.109 (1845)

Mendelssohn must have had more than a few requests from string players to extend the range of his Lieder ohne Worte – which were phenomenally popular in his day – beyond the piano repertoire. If so, however, he resisted until, at a point when he had completed all six of the piano volumes that were to appear in his lifetime, he met a charming young French musician called Lisa Cristiani. The leading female cellist of her day, though only 18 at the time, she inspired the one Lied ohne Worte conceived for any instrument other than the piano. As one would expect from a composer with a special affection for the cello, it is most effectively written – not only in the lyrical opening section in D major, with the melodic line so tenderly drawn on the A-string, but also in the more turbulent D minor episode which so dramatically exploits the lower register. The D major melody reappears before the end but comparatively briefly and not without a memory of the D minor experience.

First performed by Cristiani with Mendelssohn at the piano in Leipzig in 1845, the Lied ohne Worte in D major remained unpublished until 21 years after the composer’s death.