Das Jahr, June

Fanny Mendelssohn's “June” from Das Jahr has the subtitle “Serenade”, and from its opening  measures evokes the intimate atmosphere of a summer evening. The work is prefaced by lines  from Goethe's Faust: 

Hör' ich Rauschen, Hör' ich Lieder, 
Hör' ich holde Liebesklage? 

Do I hear rustlings, do I hear songs, 
Do I hear the sweet lament of love? 

The piece unfolds with a beautiful, emotional, melancholic, and romantic melody that evokes the  feeling of night. The accompaniment that appears as the piece progresses includes the instruction  "imitando la chitarra," meaning "like the sound of a guitar," which shows that it is perfectly suited  to the serenade form, primarily used for string instruments and ensembles. Therefore, rather than  considering it as a piano solo, I think of it as an expression in which the accompaniment, the  singer, and multiple instruments respond to each other.  

Furthermore, it is very interesting to consider the connection between what appears to be a lament  bass (a chromatic descending scale mainly used in Baroque music to express "sorrow or lament")  that appears in the middle of the piece, and the word "lament" in the quoted poem. 

Just beneath the surface is a rich conversation between poetry, song, and historical musical  references that I find quite wonderful.

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