At the heart of romantic art is the fragility of life and love. The early loss of his sister dealt a devastating blow to Mendelssohn from which he would never recover. His outpouring of grief imbued his final quartet with anguish and searing intensity. Marjan Mozetich writes of his award-winning work Lament in the Trampled Garden that it “… moves from sweet sorrow to anger and aggression, to despair, to an up-beat swing, to a sense of resignation and a longing for lost beauty.” This Valentine’s Day we go beyond the cards and flowers to taste the bitter beauty of lost love.