Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Serie III, Bd. 6

The Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64, and the Sonata in F minor, op. 4, are the only works for solo violin that Mendelssohn had had printed during his lifetime. However, his complete oeuvre includes other completed or fragmentary compositions, including two further concertos and several unfinished sonatas and other individual pieces. He himself had an extraordinary command of the violin and entrusted the instrument in several other works, such as the Octet op. 20 or the concert aria “Infelice! - Ah, ritorno, età dell’oro”, with special tasks.

Nevertheless, with regard to details of playing technique, he usually sought advice from solo violinist friends, first from Eduard Ritz, then, after Ritz’s early death, from Ferdinand David. The present volume contains all of the completed and fragmentary compositions for violin and piano that have survived – from the early Prelude and Fugue in D and G minor from Zelter’s practice book (1820), which can be assigned without doubt, through to the Sonata in F major (1838) in their various versions.