Description
The fifth piece of Op.19 in the Songs Without Words, known by the title Inquiétude (Restlessness). Op.19 is the first of the eight books. It can be called a work of unusually dramatic character within the collection.
In F-sharp minor and 6/4, true to its title, figures in constant motion express an uneasy state of mind. In a collection where most pieces centre on a singing melody, here it is the ceaseless figuration itself that sets the character, and the tension holds without a break in the minor key.
It is a piece apart within the collection, demanding advanced technique and stamina. In the recording on this site it runs over eight minutes, with the tension sustained throughout. It has 1,580 notes and a range from F♯1 to A6. As it is long, the reliable approach is to mark off sections with the A-B loop, slow the playback until the figures are learned accurately, and raise the tempo little by little. The hand colours show at a glance how the work is divided between the hands.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a leading composer of the German Romantic era, celebrated as a child prodigy and instrumental in reviving interest in the then-neglected music of Bach. His piano cycle 'Songs Without Words' consists of lyrical character pieces that sing without text. This site includes seven pieces from that collection.
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