SKU: A0.1403057

The Lieder for voice and piano by Felix Mendelssohn, while of high quality, have mostly been overshadowed by those of his contemporary and friend Robert Schumann. But his Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words) for piano solo with no vocal text, were and remain immensely popular, and had a great influence on his fellow composers, creating a genre of short poetic pieces for piano accessible to skilled amateurs and students as well as professionals.

This set of four arrangements for string quartet begins with the best known and most loved of his vocal songs, Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song), a setting of a poem by Heinrich Heine. Following are two Songs Without Words, a fine untitled one in G Major, and the famous Frühlingslied (Spring Song).

In between them is a piece by his older sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, an accomplished composer with a catalog of over 450 works, some of which were originally published under Felix’s name. Like Felix, she wrote Lieder both with a sung text, and with no words, which she called Lieder für das Pianoforte. This little jewel is one of the latter, from her Opus 8. She gave it the title Lied (Lenau), a reference to the poet Nikolaus Lenau (1802-1850). But with neither sung text nor poem title indicated, it is a little mysterious. A gentle sinuous melody leads to some bold modulations before returning, not in the expected tonic key but on the dominant. Only in the last few bars does it resolve to the home key. The arrangement transposes the original D-Flat Major to D Major, which lies better for strings.

CYPRESS PUBLISHING is pleased to be the imprint for arrangements for string ensemble by Stephen Levintow. He is a free lance professional violist and violinist specializing in chamber music, who began making string quartet and trio arrangements for wedding, party and corporate events, to expand the repertory or to improve on existing versions. Selections include unusual pieces by both familiar and lesser-known composers, plus standard classical and popular favorites. 

The goal is to produce high-quality, musically satisfying arrangements faithful to the composer’s original material, yet sight-readable in most cases by working professionals or intermediate to advanced students. The full range of normal string technique is employed, while avoiding unnecessary technical complexity. Melodic material is distributed throughout the four voices where appropriate, to maintain listener and performer interest. All parts and scores are set in Sibelius© software format, with careful attention to legibility and page turns.