Mendelssohn Bartholdy, A.: Songs for Lena

Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1874–1936), grandson of Felix, was an authority on international law who served as one of Germany’s observers to the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. Though best remembered for his illustrious legal career, he also produced a cornucopia of artistic creations including poems and musical works. At the core of his artistic output are more than eighty songs, thirty-one of which are presented in this edition. The Songs for Lena, written between 1930 and 1936 for Albrecht’s colleague Magdalene “Lena” Schoch (1897–1987), are unified by themes of romantic love, longing, happiness, beauty, and repose, along with extensive nature imagery, and feature poetry in German, French, English, and Latin. In addition to their artistic merit, these previously unpublished songs reflect both the broad cultural resources of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe and the composer’s role as the inheritor of a family tradition of great artistic achievement, particularly in music.