Ex. 11-4: Vorwurf

No. 2 of Fanny Mendelssohn's 5 Lieder (Op. 10), set to a poem by Nikolaus Lenau (1802–1850). She composed it around 1846, near the end of her life.

The title "Vorwurf" means "Reproach." Lenau's poem uses images of autumn — a forest stripped of its leaves, birds flying south — to picture a love that has cooled.

The song is in G-sharp minor and has a Baroque feel. At the very end, the minor turns to major — a Picardy third — leaving a small glimmer of light.

Fanny knew Bach's music well: as a girl of 14, she played all 24 preludes of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, from memory, as a birthday gift for her father (1819).

Fanny died in 1847, and Op. 10 was published after her death, in 1850. She set a second Lenau poem in the same collection, and other songs from Op. 10 are also in this app. (Ex. 6-5: Abendbild by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ex. 7-6: Bergeslust by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ex. 9-4: Nach Süden by Fanny Mendelssohn)

From the album F. Mendelssohn-Hensel: Lieder, Vol. 1 by Dorothea Craxton and Babette Dorn (2009)
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