Ex. 3-4: Italien

"Italien" (Italy) is a song by Fanny Mendelssohn, written in 1825 when she was nineteen. An upper-class woman of her time was not expected to publish music, so several of Fanny's songs first came out under the name of her brother, the famous composer Felix Mendelssohn. "Italien" was one of them, published in 1827 as No. 3 of Felix's Op. 8.

The most famous story about the song happened in 1842, when Felix was visiting Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. The Queen offered to sing him her favorite of his songs, and she chose "Italien" — so Felix had to admit that it was really written by his sister Fanny.

The poem, by the Austrian writer Franz Grillparzer, describes the beauty of Italy — bright sun, blue sky, golden oranges — and a wish to be free and to enjoy one's youth. Fanny wrote it years before she had ever been to Italy. Felix traveled freely around Europe, but Fanny stayed at home in Berlin; she finally made the journey to Italy in 1839.

From the album Schumann, C. / Mendelssohn-Hensel / Mahler, A.: Lieder by Christina Högman and Roland Pöntinen (1995)
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