Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has been re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the romantic era.

Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. He became well received in his travels throughout Europe as a composer, conductor and soloist; his ten visits to Britain – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes set him apart from more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Hector Berlioz. The Leipzig Conservatoire, which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.

As Mendelssohn's admirers are aware, the six works in his Op. 19b Songs Without Words are not piano versions of the six songs in the Op. 19a vocal collection, nor are they drawn from any of his other songs. Listeners have often assumed the piano works have a vocal connection not just because of their collective title, but because pieces like No. 2, in A minor here, have been given titles. This one is often published as "Regrets," but considering its somewhat melancholy mood and other features, that tag captures the chief aspect of this work's character. Indeed, there is something regretful about the main theme, a songful creation whose mostly descending contour and intimate, quasi-nocturnal manner seem to convey a sense of loss. Yet the music is elegant and emotionally restrained, conveying its sadness in an almost light fashion. Marked Andante Espressivo, the work is gentle and lovely, reaching its most touching moment near the close, when the music descends to the piano's bass region, after which the theme is heard in a beautiful mixture of upper- and lower-register sonorities.

Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/composition/song-without-word s-for-piano-no-2-in-a-minor-op-19b-2-mc0002389215 ).

Although originally composed for Piano, I created this Interpretation of the "Molto Allegro e Vivace" from "Lieder ohne Worte" (Op. 19 No. 3) for Wind Sextet (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, English Horn, French Horn & Bassoon).