Ex. 8-7: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges

Mendelssohn composed this song in 1835, when he was 26. It is the second of six songs published together in 1837 as Sechs Gesänge (Six Songs), Op. 34. It is his best-known song.

The poem is by Heinrich Heine, from his Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs, 1827). In the poem, a man carries his beloved on the wings of song to the banks of the Ganges River in India. There, lotus flowers wait, violets laugh, and gazelles listen, and the two lie down under a palm tree to dream.

The manuscript of the song was unknown until 2025. That year the Berlin State Library bought it from a private owner. Mendelssohn had dated it “Düsseldorf, 22 April 1835.” He had given it to his friend Julius Schubring, and it stayed in the Schubring family for generations. The manuscript is in E-flat major, lower than the published version, which suggests he first had a lower voice in mind.

Note: Some of the ornaments have been left out for sight-singing practice.

From the album Mendelssohn: Essentials by Barbara Bonney and Geoffrey Parsons (2008)
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