Mendelssohn was a gifted composer, one of the most versatile of his time, writing works in almost every genre. That said, his songs are among his least successful compositions. Yet he offset that shortcoming by writing music that could make the piano sing, as his masterful Songs Without Words series evidences. Consisting of eight books and 48 pieces, with several works appearing posthumously to bring the total to over 50, it offers one tuneful gem after another. This B minor effort, the fourth work in Book II, is an attractive piece, tuneful to be sure, but not quite in the singing manner of most works in the series. Marked Agitato e con fuoco, the piece lives up to its "agitated" and "fiery" tags in the playful nervosity of its restless spirit. Nicknamed by some publishers "The Wanderer," the work opens with a rapid-fire rhythm, over which a busy theme is played in the upper register. At times, the rhythm starts to flag, but then always revives, turning propulsive to accompany the roving, nervous theme. This delightfully kinetic piece typically lasts three minutes.

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There are eight books in the Mendelssohn series of piano pieces Songs Without Words, and this E major effort is the third work in the second of them. The composer was not particularly successful in the composition of songs, but quite adept at making songs on the piano. In fact, while the word "songful" certainly comes to mind in listening to most of the pieces in this collection, it is especially apt in describing the character of this lovely creation. The work begins with an ascending, scale-like passage, reminiscent more of an ending than a beginning. The main theme follows, a stately but somewhat wistful melody that consists of two phrases that vary in most subsequent appearances, turning quite noble and proud in the middle section. The melody returns to its opening guise in the latter half, after which it darkens and intensifies just before the close. The work ends with a reprise of the introductory passage, as if Mendelssohn is agreeing that its music does, after all, belong at the end. This charming piece typically lasts two minutes.

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Felix Mendelssohn was not a newcomer to the piano miniature when he published his Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 30, in 1835. In addition to a number of other short works for solo piano bearing various generic titles, Mendelssohn had composed one earlier set of six lyrical piano character pieces (Op. 19) which were first published by London's premier music publisher Novello in 1832 under the title "Original Melodies" (and a few months later in Berlin by Simrock under the title "Romanzen für's Pianoforte"), and which became immediately popular in Europe's salon culture. Opus 30 was the first group of Mendelssohn's piano character pieces to be published with the original title Lieder ohne Worte, a designation that raises tantalizing aesthetic issues by presuming to cross the line between absolute and program music and suggesting the frustration of generic expectations.

The contrapuntal textures, simple, lyrical melodies, and elaborations of Classical phrase structures and forms in the Op. 30 Songs without Words reveal Mendelssohn's musical upbringing in the great Classical traditions. The inner voices in Op. 30, No. 1 combine in a single strand of gentle arpeggio figuration between the harmonic foundation of the bass and the lyrical tune. Like No. 1, the second piece in the set is also a variation of the ternary form idea. The classically balanced antecedent-consequent period that begins the piece modulates from B flat minor to the relative major (D flat major), foreshadowing the large-scale tonal progression from B flat minor to B flat major over the course of the piece. In Op. 30, No. 3, the identical introduction and coda feature delicate arpeggios and bookend an unassuming modified ternary form movement. The repose of this piece is broken by the minor mode and ceaseless sixteenth notes of Op. 30, No. 4. Indeed, although the opening phrase of this piece begins as a classic antecedent phrase, the following phrase cannot find rest in its tortuous extensions and cadential evasions, and modulates to the relative major key. By including an A section in which two themes are introduced and a brief developmental B section before the modified reprise of the A section, Mendelssohn combines elements of ternary and sonata forms. The D major tonality of Op. 30, No. 5 links it to the preceding piece. Filigree thirty-second notes buzz beneath the melody. Mendelssohn entitled Op. 30, No. 6 "Venetianisches Gondellied," as he had Op. 19, No. 6 and as he would Op. 62, No. 5 in 1844. Although in his earlier and later Venetian gondola "songs" the 6/8 meter functions as a straightforward indicator of the genre, in Op. 30, No. 6, Mendelssohn frustrates generic expectations through metric ambiguity. The accentuating chords in the eighth-note accompaniment blur the line between 6/8 and 3/4 time. Additionally, the right-hand melody, which, in the A-section, studiously avoids the tonic pitch, floats incongruently over the metric confusion of the accompaniment. In the coda, ponderous chordal syncopations in the right hand exaggerate the metric conflict, temporarily subverting any clear sense of meter.

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The first piece in this series having the parenthetical title Venetianisches Gondollied (Venetian Gondolier's Song) was No. 6, Op. 19b, a work whose mood and writing strongly resemble that of this later effort. Both compositions are perfect examples of the style of music Mendelssohn was attempting to create in this large series, which would run to 49 pieces in eight books. The works are songful, without sounding like vocal transcriptions, and many, especially this one and the earlier Gondolier's Song, veer close to suggesting a text. This F sharp minor piece is slower than its Allegretto tranquillo marking might suggest, and like its counterpart in the first book, features a sense of flow or motion on a waterway with its soothing three-note rocking manner and dark theme. That theme is somewhat anguished in its often descending manner and the mood remains largely disconsolate, even though the music twice rises on the keyboard and swells in volume, offering hope for a brightening of its character. But each time, the mood retreats to a darker realm and a trill is heard to soften the sense of loss. Lasting about three minutes in performance, this is a lovely work that will appeal to a broad range of tastes.

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