Mendelssohn: Scherzo in E Minor, Opus 16, No. 2: Piano Sheet

This scherzo captures the restless energy and orchestral imagination Mendelssohn brought to his keyboard writing. Its connection to the Midsummer Night's Dream overture gives it narrative weight while remaining thoroughly pianistic, making it an ideal bridge between the Classical-Romantic divide for advanced students ready to engage serious repertoire.

Mercurial and quicksilver, the Scherzo darts between whimsical ostinatos and moments of genuine lyric warmth. Its orchestral voice suggests strings and woodwinds dancing across a stage, with the keyboard capturing both the precision and the theatrical flair of Mendelssohn's instrumental imagination.

Advanced pianists preparing for conservatory auditions or advanced recital programming will find this piece indispensable. It rewards pianists with strong command of Romantic idiom and the technical facility to navigate its decorative passages while maintaining musical direction.

• Shape the gossamer figurations with clarity rather than weight; these passages demand transparent voicing and consistent finger articulation across the fast passagework.
• Attend carefully to Mendelssohn's dynamic markings and sudden shifts between registers; they drive the drama forward and prevent the piece from settling into routine repetition.
• Balance the lyrical moments against the scherzo's inherent vigor; resist slowing excessively in the gentler sections, as the piece thrives on forward momentum.
• Study Palmer's performance notes and the autograph reproduction alongside the score to understand Mendelssohn's own musical intentions and the context in which he wrote this work.

Pair this with other early Romantic solo works to anchor a recital centered on keyboard masterworks of the 1830s-1840s. Its eight-page length makes it substantial enough to anchor a program segment while remaining nimble enough to sit alongside other character pieces or multi-movement works.

• Rapid passagework with transparent voicing and even tone
• Scherzo rhythm and the tempo relationships between sections
• Pedal control in sustained harmonic accompaniment
• Dynamic contrast and sudden register shifts
• Lyrical phrasing within virtuosic context