Mendelssohn's first completed work for a large scoring, the Singspiel Soldatenliebschaft, is also the first of his stage works. The successful performance of the "lovely operetta" (thus the composer to his librettist) on 11 December 1820 to celebrate his fathers birthday astonished the family and convinced them for good that the 11-year-old was predetermined for a career in music. The overture and 14 vocal numbers gave the young composer ample opportunity to prove his talent. Although the Soldatenliebschaft is occasionally mentioned in the correspondence of the Mendelssohn family, and the music was not completely unknown in Weimar as well, the work was neither published nor performed in public during the composers lifetime. Now that the score has been released in the Complete Edition, the publisher was preparing the performance material as well, so that the work can be made available to theaters.