Don't judge a book by its cover and a series of piano works by its – in this case, quite undistinguished, – title. No matter what one might think, Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words is anything but yet another collection of instrumental music. Quite the opposite, there definitely is something special about these lyrical pieces: a composer was working in this, invented by himself, genre throughout all his life in attempt to express the inexpressible. For this reason an idea – even though it was his friends', – of setting words to this music was declined. Additionally, this set of pieces inspired such composers as Edward Grieg, Gabriel Fauré, and Anton Rubinstein to compose their own series under the same name.
As I already mentioned, Mendelssohn was writing songs without words exclusively for piano. However, once he made an exception and composed a piece also for cello, and it is as good as you would expect it to be. If you happen to play cello, don't miss this one: Song without Words for Cello and Piano, Op.109.
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