Pressel composed two operas and numerous piano works, including forty songs during his time in Berlin. Like his teacher Friedrich Silcher, Pressel took the texts for many of his songs from the folk song poem and set them to music "with a warm, soulful swing" and "expressive melody". 2] Among his compositions stand out the sacred song ''Preghiera'' and the ballad ''Barbarossa'' (1887), which have already been praised by contemporaries, while in his German folk tableau (1885) mainly Swabian stylistic elements can be discerned and refer to his origins. Pressel is also the composer of the Weser Song ("Hier hab ich so manches liebe Mal ... ...") based on a text by Franz von Dingelstedt, which he set to music in Weimar in 1845.
As a music theorist, he rendered extensive contributions to Mozart research.
