Mendelssohn: Chamber Music Works

Description

With the exception of the works for violin or cello and piano, to each of which a separate volume is devoted, all of Mendelssohn's other works for one or two instruments with piano are collected in this volume. Mendelssohn did not have any of these works printed. They are the viola sonata MWV Q 14, composed between November 1823 and February 1824, the clarinet sonata MWV Q 15, composed in the immediate proximity of time, and the two concert pieces for clarinet and basset horn MWV Q 23 and Q 24, accompagnied by the piano and each described by Mendelssohn as a "large duet for Dampfnudel or Rahmstrudel[,] Clarinett ud. Bassethorn" and dedicated to the Munich clarinet virtuosos Carl and Heinrich Bärmann, who obviously also wielded the wooden spoon with virtuosity.

Also included are the early trio MWV Q 3 for violin and viola with piano, The Shepherd's Song MWV R 24, Mendelssohn's only work for solo flute, and the duo for harp and piano entitled The Evening Bell MWV Q 20. This work is dedicated to Thomas Attwood and his daughter, who played the harp, its title and recurring repeated notes alluding to the repeated ringing of the doorbell, by which the coachman urged Mendelssohn to set out for the visit to the Attwoods in Norwood Surrey.