The two books containing all the songs published during the lifetime of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy clearly rank among the most important new publications being prepared for the Mendelssohn Anniversary Year 2009 (200th birthday on 3 February). In order to be able to sing all the birthday serenades from a flawless, authenticated music text, a practical edition obviously has absolute priority.

The third volume deserves particular attention, as it contains the unpublished or posthumously printed songs, each in the final version approved by the composer. Forty-four of them were published in late 2006 as "Lieder und Gesänge – neu entdeckt" (MR 2296). The music text of this third book is a pre-print from the Leipzig Mendelssohn Complete Edition. Interested interpreters can now learn all of Mendelssohn's songs on the basis of a reliable Urtext edition.