As Mendelssohn's admirers are aware, the six works in his Op. 19b Songs Without Words are not piano versions of the six songs in the Op. 19a vocal collection, nor are they drawn from any of his other songs. Listeners have often assumed the piano works have a vocal connection not just because of their collective title, but because pieces like No. 2, in A minor here, have been given titles. This one is often published as "Regrets," but considering its somewhat melancholy mood and other features, that tag captures the chief aspect of this work's character. Indeed, there is something regretful about the main theme, a songful creation whose mostly descending contour and intimate, quasi-nocturnal manner seem to convey a sense of loss. Yet the music is elegant and emotionally restrained, conveying its sadness in an almost light fashion. Marked Andante Espressivo, the work is gentle and lovely, reaching its most touching moment near the close, when the music descends to the piano's bass region, after which the theme is heard in a beautiful mixture of upper- and lower-register sonorities. A typical performance of the piece lasts three minutes.

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Mendelssohn first refers to a "Lieder ohne Worte" (Song without Words) in a letter to his sister Fanny of December, 1828. He composed them initially for family and friends, but by 1832 decided to publish these miniatures. Mendelssohn's first set of Lieder ohne Worte was published in London with the title, Melodies for the Pianoforte. The set was designated Op. 19. For some of the six works Mendelssohn drew on his older piano pieces, but a couple were freshly composed to balance the number of minor key works (Nos. 2, 5 and 6) with the major key ones (Nos. 1, 3 and 4). He also sought to achieve a variety of song types, including examples of the solo Lied, duet, and partsong.

The first is in the form of a solo Lied. In E major, the piece exhibits a strict demarcation between melody and arpeggio accompaniment. In ABA form, the piece's central section ventures from the dominant into keys removed from E major while spinning out a new tune based on the main melody.

In A minor, No. 2 begins as a solo Lied, but immediately becomes a duet. Passages with a duet texture come and go unpredictably, but appear in the same places during the repeat of the first half of the piece. The main sections of the song feature one of Mendelssohn's melodies that seems constantly to descend.

No. 3, "Jagdlied" (Hunting Song), apparently received its title from Mendelssohn, or at least from his circle. Filled with hunting horn-calls, initially in the left hand part of the first measure, the piece evokes one of the favorite images of Romantic poetry and music. In A major, its homophonic texture makes it similar to the partsong.

The fourth of the set, also in A major, may have been intended by Mendelssohn to be another "Jagdlied," for its relationship to the previous piece extends beyond the key of A major to numerous horn call figurations and a partsong texture.

Entitled by the composer "Venezianisches Gondollied" (Venetian Gondolier's Song), Op. 19, No. 6 possesses the features of the barcarolle in its moderately paced 6/8 meter and melancholy melodies over an accompaniment of broken triads that evokes the motion of a boat on the waves. In G minor, the piece's doubled melodic line, usually in thirds or sixths, creates the sound of a duet. In 1903, Richard Strauss transformed the Op. 19 "Gondollied" into the orchestral "Wiegenlied" of his Symphonia domestica.

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As many may know, Mendelssohn's Song Without Words series is not a collection of song transcriptions, but a set of piano works having a singing quality or an emotional character that might seem to suggest a text. The composer, however, always fashioned the music to fit the keyboard, even if its songfulness might seem to yearn for a vocal incarnation. This work, Venetian Gondolier's Song, as its title suggests, has an Italianate sense both in its wistful melody and in its deftly fashioned atmosphere. The piece opens with a gentle three-note rocking figure, over the top of which is heard a melancholy melody that would not be out of place in a Chopin nocturne. Yet its slight exoticism exudes a good measure of the flavors of so many Italian love songs—love songs about lost love, however. In the middle section, the theme varies slightly, divulging a bit more animation and muscle. The whole conveys more than a vague sense of movement on a waterway, with its rocking motion and mostly gently flowing theme. There are 49 pieces in the Song Without Words series—which the composer divided into eight books—and this is certainly one of the more beautiful ones. This piece lasts just over two minutes in a typical performance.

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This A major piece, entitled Jägerlied (Hunter's Song), is—like most of the works in the Song Without Words series—a quite lyrical sounding half-song, half-piano work. It is not, of course, a transcription or arrangement of a song, though it might easily have adapted well to the vocal realm. The work is lively, full of color and sunshine, its hunters apparently more concerned with merriment and celebration than with shooting their game. Marked Molto allegro e vivace, the piece opens with a fanfare, replete with horn calls announcing the hunt. There follows the main theme, a vigorous, bright creation filled with joy and playfulness throughout the course of its long-breathed statement. About midway through the piece, the music develops a bit of tension as the theme somewhat darkens, as if to show that hunting does have a serious side, after all. The music here is short-lived, however, and the merriment returns, taking on a triumphant, almost majestic glow in the closing moments. This approximately two-and-a-half minute piece is charming in its lightness and infectious themes and will appeal to a wide audience.

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Mendelssohn's series of piano pieces carrying the tag Song Without Words was not originally conceived for voice, as some listeners often assume. The composer merely used the title to suggest characteristics associated with the music, such as its possible Romantic or emotional temperament, or its melodic material's songful character, a character that can impart to the listener a sense it has some implied or hidden text. But for all its lyrical flow, the music in this E major piece (and the others in the series as well) never sounds alien to the keyboard and never sounds like a transcription of a vocal work. That said, however, it is quite lyrical and songful, quite the stuff that could make for a beautiful vocal version. Yet the composer's deftly imagined writing fits the piano well, sounding quite Schumann-esque, even, in the intimate, Romantic character of the lovely, soaring melody whose beauties blossom at the highest points of its arch-like contour. Surely this is one of Mendelssohn's most memorable creations. The running figure in the left hand provides rather voluptuous harmonic support for most of the work's duration. The whole is mesmerizing and will appeal to an audience of wide tastes, from the initiated to the seasoned listener. Typical performances of this piece last between three-and-a-half and four minutes. (It should be noted that Mendelssohn composed a set of six songs as his Op. 19a, but none of them correspond to this piece or any other in Op. 19b.)

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