'Moon's fair beam'

The German composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy wrote the music for Schilflied (or Reed Song) in 1842 to accompany lyrics by the poet Nikolaus Lenau. During a winter break in the Frankfurt area with his wife, Mendelssohn made a copy in his own hand and illustrated it with a watercolour that refers to the first line: ‘On the lake’s unruffled surface rests the Moon’s fair beam’. He presented the piece to the wife of a Frankfurt wine merchant.

(Frankfurt area, March 1845)