Romance sans paroles op. 109

The “Romance sans paroles dédiée à Mlle. Lise Christiani” – thus described in the surviving autograph – was only published as op. 109 from the composer’s estate in 1868. The French cellist Lise Christiani gave several concerts in Leipzig in October 1845, where she met with Mendelssohn and presumably commissioned him to write this charming work. It is the only “Song without words” that Mendelssohn wrote for two instruments, not piano solo. It was previously only available as part of a collection of works for this instrumentation (HN 669). However, the “Romance sans paroles”, a favourite with cellists, is now also available as a single Henle Urtext edition.