As a composer Mendelssohn possessed a perfect technical command of the resources available to him and was always able to write music that is remarkably economical in the way it achieves its effects.
The series of Songs without Words that Mendelssohn wrote and published from 1830 on serve as a very personal musical diary in which the composer expressed very precisely musical ideas that had, he alleged, no verbal equivalent. It was left to later publishers to suggest titles for the pieces, a procedure that Mendelssohn himself did not like.
From his third book of Songs without Words, Opus 38, published in 1837, come the so-called Poet’s Harp and Hope, and from the fifth book, Opus 62, published in 1844, come two pieces known as May Breezes and Departure. The sixth book, Opus 67, published in 1845, is composed of six pieces, given the titles Meditation, Lost Illusions, Song of the Pilgrim, The Shepherd’s Complaint and Lullaby (Opus 67 Nos. 1,2,3,5 and 6 respectively).
Here is Yuja Wang performing the Opus 67, number 2:
