Since Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is going on this weekend, I decided to explore some of his other music and keep my New Years resolution of listening to a new piece of music everyday.

Here are a few of the Mendelssohn pieces I checked out.

Mendelssohn’s Neue Liebe is a setting of a Heinrich Heine poem. Here’s the translation of the text.

In the moonlit forest I watched the elves a-riding, I heard their horns sound I heard their bells ring.

Their white horses, with golden antlers, flew on swiftly, like white swans Travelling through the air.

The queen nodded at me and smiled, smiled, as she rode overhead; Was it because of my new love? Or does it mean death?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDsVlUkVUw0

I also checked out Mendelssohn’s Nachtlied, Night Song. It is a beautiful piece but I wasn’t able to find a translation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM0CG9Xmsw0

Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words are famous but I’ve never taken the time to listen to any of them. Perhaps I’ve heard a few of them at recitals over the years but I don’t remember. The title Songs Without Words was not devised by Mendelssohn but was created after his death by a Victorian publisher.

Here is Emil Gilels playing Duetto. The title Duetto was also created by a publisher.

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