Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte

Featuring

Stéphane De May
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Mendelssohn's aim with the Songs without Words was to make the piano 'sing,' similar to lieder for voice and piano by composers like Schubert and Schumann.

Compositional Technique

The Songs without Words are characterized by their brevity, rarely exceeding three minutes, which requires the composer to go straight to the essential message.

Composer Biography

Mendelssohn was a child prodigy who received a rigorous classical education from excellent masters.

Composition History

Mendelssohn's Songs without Words were created as lyrical piano pieces, a new genre that became very successful in the second half of the 19th century.

Performer Biography

Stéphane De May's recordings of Chopin's complete Nocturnes and two piano concertos are considered reference recordings by the American press.

Composition History

There are eight books of Mendelssohn's Songs without Words; the last two were published posthumously in 1851 and 1868 from previously unpublished scores found in his archives.

Performer Biography

Stéphane De May, the pianist on this album, is a professor at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Codarts) and Artistic Director of the FestiVal d'Anniviers in Switzerland.