As Wagner said, Mendelssohn was a "first-rate landscape painter," demonstrating his talent in depicting scenes and composing program music.

Through these “words without words”, "Songs Without Words," Mendelssohn expressed even inner landscapes and emotional descriptions. As these are instrumental pieces with song-like melodies, it is important to clearly bring out the melodic line and perform them lyrically.

During the period when Mendelssohn was active, the piano became widely popular as a cultural pursuit, especially among bourgeois families. Consequently, many pieces were composed that could be played casually at home, and the Songs Without Words collection is one such example.

The Songs Without Words collection consists of eight volumes, each containing six pieces. Only up to Volume 6 was published during his lifetime. Volume 7 was published in 1851, and Volume 8 in 1867. When Mendelssohn published Volume 1 in 1832, he titled it Melodies for the Piano; the name Songs Without Words was adopted only after the publication of Volume 2 in 1835.

Many pieces have titles, but only a few were given by the composer himself. In fact, Mendelssohn seemed to dislike the idea that adding titles would limit musical imagination.

Volume 4

• 1. A-flat major "On the Seashore" / Op. 53-1
• 2. E-flat major "Fleecy Cloud" / Op. 53-2 (1841)

Most of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words adopt a method where the right hand sings the melody over an accompaniment figuration played by the left hand, and they are written in ternary form. Furthermore, the insertion of introductions, interludes, and postludes suggests that the Songs Without Words were inspired by lieder.

Op. 53-2 is one of the pieces from the fourth collection of Songs Without Words, published in 1841. The title 'Fleecy Cloud' was not given by Mendelssohn himself. The entire piece progresses through a combination of different rhythms: eighth notes and triplets in the right hand. From measure 21, a contrasting section emerges where the melodic line appears both above and below, leading to a ternary form with a recapitulation from measure 49.

• 3. G minor "Restlessness" / Op. 53-3
• 4. F major "Sadness of Soul" / Op. 53-4

Harmonic sonorities shift, creating shadows, above which a melancholic melody emerges. Among the Songs Without Words, this is a particularly emotional and profound piece.

• 5. A minor "Folk Song" / Op. 53-5

This is the only piece among the six that Mendelssohn himself named. It employs a unique idiom combining octaves and parallel chords in thirds.

• 6. A major "Song of Triumph" / Op. 53-6

A lively and brilliant piece. It has a form close to rondo form.