| Psalm 42 Wie der Hirsch schreit | |
| Type: | Cantata |
| Composer: | Felix Mendelssohn |
| Image Upright: | 1.1 |
| Opus: | 42 |
| Catalogue: | MWV A 15 |
| Text: | Psalm 42 |
| Language: | German |
Psalm 42, Op. 42 (MWV A 15) Wie der Hirsch schreit (As pants the hart) is a cantata by Felix Mendelssohn, setting Psalm 42 in German. It was written and published in 1837 (revised 1838) for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra.
Mendelssohn set the music to Luther's German translation of Psalm 42. At the work's first performance, in Leipzig on 1 January 1838, Mendelssohn conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with Clara Novello as soprano. He was the orchestra's musical director from 1835 until his death in 1847.
Schumann opined in 1837 that Mendelssohn's setting of Psalm 42 was the "highest point that he [Mendelssohn] reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the highest point recent church music has reached at all."[1] Mendelssohn himself described it as “my best sacred piece… the best thing I have composed in this manner”, a work “I hold in greater regard than most of my other compositions.”[2]