In autumn 1830 Mendelssohn Bartholdy visited Venice whilst on a great European tour and was intoxicated by his impressions. He said of the local gondoliers: ?The gondoliers are now crying out to one another again, and the lights are reflected deep in the water; one is playing the guitar and singing. It is a merry night?. Perhaps it was with this in mind that Mendelssohn wrote four Venetian Gondola Songs between 1830 and 1841.
