Mendelssohn – Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song) (MWV K 86) Piano solo, Noten, sheet music
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“On Wings of Song” (Auf Flügeln des Gesanges) is one of Felix Mendelssohn’s most beloved art songs. It perfectly captures the Romantic era’s fascination with poetry, emotion, and evocative imagery. Setting a poem by the great Heinrich Heine, the song is a masterpiece of melody and atmosphere.
The Origins: Mendelssohn Meets Heine
The song is a setting of a poem by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), one of the most significant German Romantic poets. Heine wrote Auf Flügeln des Gesanges in 1822, and it was published in his 1827 collection Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs) .
The poem itself is a classic Romantic work, filled with lush, exotic imagery of the East:
- The speaker invites their beloved to float with them “on wings of song” to the banks of the Ganges River in India.
- They imagine a fantastical garden with red-flowering lotus blossoms, violets whispering, and stars coming down to listen .
Mendelssohn was drawn to this kind of poetic, atmospheric text. He composed his setting in 1834 while working as the music director in Düsseldorf . It was eventually published in 1837 as the second song in his Six Songs for Voice and Piano, Op. 34 .
The Music: A Winged Melody
Mendelssohn’s music is not just an accompaniment to Heine’s words; it is an interpretation. He captures the poem’s essence through several brilliant musical techniques:
- A Flowing Foundation: The song opens with a piano introduction of gentle, rippling arpeggios in 6/8 time . This creates an immediate sense of gentle, steady motion—the feeling of floating through the air.
- A Swaying Vocal Line: The vocal melody is famously smooth and lyrical. It has a gentle, swaying quality that many critics and listeners have said perfectly evokes the flapping of wings .
- A Subtle Dramatic Turn: The song isn’t static. In the middle section, Mendelssohn changes the mood for the lines about the gazelle and the rushing river. The music briefly shifts to a minor key and becomes more agitated . This reflects the excitement of the natural world described in the text. The peace returns as the song concludes with the lovers dreaming in the moonlight.
- Original Key: The song was first published in A-flat major .
A 2025 Discovery: Mendelssohn’s Work in Progress
This is where the story gets fascinating. For a long time, scholars could only speculate about when exactly Mendelssohn composed this song because the original manuscript was lost.
In July 2025, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library) announced the acquisition of this long-lost autograph manuscript . It was a private family heirloom, passed down for generations from Mendelssohn’s friend, Julius Schubring, until it finally made its way to Berlin .
The manuscript, dated “Düsseldorf, April 22, 1835,” offers an unprecedented glimpse into Mendelssohn’s creative process. Key findings include:
- The Melody Was Different: It reveals that the original melody was much more angular and jagged. Mendelssohn’s corrections on the page show him carefully smoothing it out to create the famous, flowing final version .
- A Different Key: This manuscript is written in E-flat major, a whole step lower than the published version. This suggests Mendelssohn originally conceived it for a lower voice type .
Legacy and Adaptations
On Wings of Song has enjoyed a life far beyond the concert hall, cementing its status as one of Mendelssohn’s greatest hits.
- Piano Transcriptions: The most famous instrumental version is a virtuoso solo piano transcription by Franz Liszt (S. 547), which turns the simple song into a dazzling showpiece .
- Popular Culture: The melody is so well-known that it has been adapted into popular songs. For example, Doris Day sang a version called “Till My Love Comes to Me” .
- A Pedagogical Standard: Its beautiful, accessible melody and clear structure have made it a staple in music education worldwide, used in textbooks and as a teaching piece for voice and piano students .
The story of the recently discovered manuscript shows that even a seemingly effortless masterpiece was the result of careful, inspired work.