Des Schäfers Lied MWV R 24

The work The Shepherd’s Song by Felix Mendelssohn, presented as a reprint for the first time, is his only known original composition for flute. Although Mendelssohn frequently and skilfully used wind instruments in his orchestral works, he never provided them with significant parts, neither in his chamber music works not as solo instrument, which may have been due to the technical shortcomings of the instrument prior to the revolutionary inventions of Theobald Böhm. The short composition The Shepherd’s Song was published for the first time after the death of the composer in 1889, including an additional piano accompaniment and an alternative violin part. The arranger and editor was the organist and composer Berthold Tours (1838-1897). Since the flute literature contains only few musical pieces of major composers of the Romantic era, it is surprising that this composition, which had been printed more than 100 years ago, has remained undiscovered for such a long time, thus remaining widely unknown to the public until today. The Shepherd’s Song can be performed with flute (violin) solo or with the piano accompaniment by Berthold Tours.