The "Romances without words" are a personal invention of Mendelssohn. They mark the beginning of Romanticism in piano music. This is the most famous of all. She was offered to Clara Schumann for her birthday in 1843, and she is part of the fifth notebook, out of eight that Mendelssohn composed for the romances without words. We can compare the romances without words to the nocturnal Chopin, which inspired him, for these pieces form a lyrical ideal of piano music. The piano has to sing. Romance without words takes the expression of freedom, it is pure pleasure, of free form. Little appreciated at the beginning, they were delivered little by little at the request of the publisher. Mendelssohn composed fifty Romances without words between 1828 (death of Schubert) and 1845. Five notebooks are dedicated to women, and the title Romances without words appears in 1828, under the pen of Fanny the sister of the composer. Mendelssohn will use this title for the first time in 1830.
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