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Exploring Piano Masterworks: Songs without Words (5 Selections): Piano Book

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Exploring Piano Masterworks: Songs without Words (5 Selections) Cover Image
Exploring Piano Masterworks: Songs without Words (5 Selections): Piano Book

Exploring Piano Masterworks: Songs without Words (5 Selections): Piano Book

By Felix Mendelssohn / ed. Maurice Hinson

Level: Intermediate / Late Intermediate

Item: 00-16724
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Description
This series is designed to introduce piano students with experience playing standard piano literature to masterworks by a variety of composers. Seven volumes in the series are available and include the most accessible and popular works in the genre, plus informative text, performance notes and detailed composer biographies. This edition for intermediate to late intermediate pianists includes: Confidence, Op. 19, No. 4; Consolation, Op. 30, No. 3; Regrets, Op. 19, No. 2; Tarantella, Op. 102, No. 3; and Venetian Boat Song, Op. 19, No. 6. 16 pages.

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Additional Details
Series: Exploring Piano Masterworks
Publisher: Alfred Music
Page Count: 16
ISBN10: 0-7390-0280-5
ISBN13: 978-0-7390-0280-3
UPC: 038081175218
SKU: 00-16724

More about this title

About the Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German composer whose gift for lyrical melody shaped Romantic music across every genre he touched. Born into a wealthy, cultured Berlin family, he composed symphonies, concerti, chamber works, and sacred music that balanced intellectual rigor with profound emotional directness.

Mendelssohn's Songs without Words emerged as his signature contribution to piano literature. Written across four decades and organized in eight opus numbers, these 48 short character pieces proved that instrumental music could sing as purely as the human voice. His influence on music education remains central: these works demonstrate how composers can craft narratives without words, teaching students that musical storytelling relies on melody, harmony, and form rather than external program.

Why we love this

These selections pack genuine artistic weight into accessible forms that intermediate pianists can actually perform convincingly. Mendelssohn's gift for elegant melody means students encounter music that sounds beautiful even at moderate tempos and technical levels, yet demands real musical maturity in phrasing and voice leading.

What to expect

Intimate yet assured. These miniatures flow between introspection and warmth, with Italian-inspired elegance in the Tarantella and Venetian pieces, quiet confidence in the Consolation and Regrets, and bright, youthful optimism in Confidence. Each work invites you into a small emotional world fully realized in just a few pages.

Who it's for

Intermediate and late intermediate pianists ready to expand beyond method book repertoire into the heart of Romantic piano literature. Students who have developed solid technique and want to experience works that reward careful musical interpretation.

How to get the most out of it

  • Treat each piece as a song: shape phrases as you would a singer's line, letting melody breathe naturally rather than rushing through accompaniment figures.
  • Pay special attention to Mendelssohn's dynamic markings and tempo indications; they are integral to the character of each work and should not be glossed over.
  • In the faster pieces like Tarantella, maintain clarity in the accompaniment pattern while keeping the melody singing above it; resist the urge to blur textures with excessive pedal.
  • Balance the opening statements carefully in Venetian Boat Song and other nocturne-like selections; these melodies need space and a clear sense of arrival at cadences.

How to use it

These pieces work beautifully on student recitals, where their brevity allows pianists to program multiple works and build varied program flow. They also serve as a bridge into late Romantic repertoire for students preparing for competitive festival performances or college auditions.

Skills your students will build

  • Singing melodic lines over consistent accompaniment patterns
  • Interpretation of Romantic-era expression marks and tempo modifications
  • Pedal technique for sustaining harmonic color without muddying texture
  • Formal awareness through contrasting sections and harmonic motion
  • Voice leading and balance between melody and accompaniment

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