Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Felix Mendelssohn · Level 3 (Late beginner) · traditional · Piano

Charles Wesley’s hymn (1739) sung to a melody by Felix Mendelssohn from his cantata Festgesang (1840), adapted by William H. Cummings in 1855. An easy arrangement in G major: the right hand plays the tune, the left hand alternates a bass note and a two-note chord (“oom-pah”).

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Work in four-bar phrases, hands separately then together. Keep the left hand softer than the tune: let the right hand sing.

More pieces by Felix Mendelssohn

• Venetian Gondola Song Op. 30 No. 6 (Songs without Words)
• Song without Words Op. 102 No. 3 in C major
• Scherzo in E minor (Op. 16, No. 2)
• Song without Words Op. 19 No. 6 “Venetian Gondola Song”
• Song without Words Op. 85 No. 1
• Song without Words Op. 53 No. 5 “Folk Song”
• Song without Words Op. 19 No. 5 “Restlessness”

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après la mélodie de F. Mendelssohn (1840) adaptée par W. H. Cummings · Public Domain