Dear Mr. Chappell:

Do you know of any fun, interesting, and challenging Mendelssohn pieces? A new student of mine has only played the Reverie in F, and I thought there should be more of interest in his works than that.

— Dreamer

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Dear Dreamer:

I have played through all of Mendelssohn’s piano solo works (not bragging, just claiming authority when I offer opinions), so I can tell you that the best music among them is the Songs Without Words and the Variations Sérieuses. The latter is not a "student" piece. Beautiful, important, characteristic of the composer, and frequently performed also is the Rondo Capriccioso in E Major, op. 14.

By the way, Mendelssohn did not give titles to any of the Songs Without Words except the Spinning Song, the Spring Song, the Venetian Boat (Gondola) Songs, and the Duet. If you find any other pleasing and sentimental titles given to these pieces, please know that they were pasted there by someone else.

The easiest ones are op. 19 #4, op. 30 #3, op. 67 #5, and op. 102 #6.

The most popular ones are op. 19 #6, op. 30 #6, op. 38 #2, op. 62 #1, op. 62 #6 (world famous), and op. 67 #4 (most famous among pianists).

My favorites are op. 19 #5, op. 38 #6, op. 53 #2, op. 67 #1, op. 85 #4, and op 102 #3.

Mendelssohn wrote "Six Pieces For Children, opus 76" that are nice; some are actually relatively easy to play.

His Scherzo, opus 16 number 2, shows up sometimes in student anthologies. It also is heard in the movie soundtrack to "The Wizard of Oz" in the latter half when people are running around in great consternation.

— J.C.