Felix gives you wings! A previously unknown source of a known Mendelssohn lied
Roland Schmidt-Hensel
Thursday, July 24, 2025
The following post by Roland Schmidt-Hensel was first published on the blog of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz. The manuscript described here can be found in RISM under RISM ID no. 1001329438 (RISM Catalog | RISM Online).
Even though Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) left behind more than 100 lieder with piano accompaniment, his songs are far less present in today’s concerts than those of his contemporaries Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856).
One of the few songs that have remained popular to this day is Mendelssohn’s setting of the poem “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges” (On wings of song) MWV K 86 by Heinrich Heine. This song was first published in 1837 as part of Sechs Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte op. 34, which – as was usual with Mendelssohn – brings together lieder composed in different years. But when exactly this song was written could only be determined through indirect evidence until now, because the autograph manuscript was unknown.
The Staatsbibliothek has now acquired this previously unknown source from private ownership. Dated “Düsseldorf, den 22ten April 1835,” the leaf documents Mendelssohn’s intensive compositional work, especially on the melody line of the voice. This shows that the original reading of the melody was clearly more jagged; only through Mendelssohn’s corrections did the swaying texture arise, reminiscent of the flapping of wings associated with the text. Unlike the first edition, the song is in E-flat major here instead of A-flat major, and thus conceived for a rather lower voice.
The reverse side of the leaf contains the first draft of another song, “Was will die einsame Träne” MWV K 94, which is also based on a poem by Heine; here, also, Mendelssohn considerably modified the original afterwards. Furthermore, some information about the transmission history was jotted down here: according to a note by Mendelssohn’s friend Julius Schubring (1806-1889), he received the leaf from Mendelssohn as a gift. It was handed down among Schubring’s descendents from generation to generation, until it finally ended up in Berlin and is now available for study and research for the first time.
Image above: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Portrait drawing by Eduard Bendemann, 1832 (MA BA 157)
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