Music manuscript, 5 pages

This is one of several pieces that Mendelssohn arranged for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to play together. The solo version was subsequently published as Opus 85, no. 6. Mendelssohn paid several informal visits to the royal couple from 1842 to 1847, and learnt that they enjoyed playing duet arrangements of the lyrical piano-solos he called 'Songs without words'. He sent this one to Prince Albert on 7 May 1847, on his last visit to London, in response to the Prince’s compliments on his oratorio Elijah.

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010