String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

In May 1847 Mendelssohn's beloved sister Fanny died suddenly; that summer, in Switzerland, he poured his grief into the F minor Quartet, often called his "Requiem for Fanny." The music abandons his customary polish: tremolando shudders and slashing accents open the work, and the Adagio is an unmistakable elegy. It was the last major work he completed — he died months later, aged thirty-eight. Its power lies in grief left raw.