Children's pieces

“All grown-ups were once children (but only few of them remember it).”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

 

“Where am I from? I'm from my childhood like I'm from a country.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,  Flight to Arras

 

Dear friends of piano music,

I've been wondering for a while whether Mendelssohn's so-called “children's pieces” are actually only for children. In music therapy, pieces of music are sometimes used to make associated memories accessible again. Of course, this doesn't just work with music, smells can conjure up childhood, as can places, people, objects. I recently took such a trip into the past myself by visiting my parents with my children. They are very interested in everything and want to know exactly what the house and garden looked like back then, what my cat was called, which trees I climbed. In my family there were not only good times, there were also flight and displacement, there were illnesses, there were early deaths, bad rifts - so I have a completely normal family. But my childhood was an absolutely happy phase, at least the first 10 years were completely cheerful and carefree. What a gift! Mendelssohn's “children's pieces”  remind me of that, and I sincerely hope that my children will be able to say the same about their childhood one day.

A happy childhood is the only thing we can give our children - the only thing that really lasts.

Kind regards

Kerstin

 

Felix Mendelssohn: Six Pieces for Children Op.72 No 2 (Andante MWV U 165): https://youtu.be/cCov_tZt3ic