Robert Schumann wrote his song cycle Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love) in 1840, and since then it has become his best known work in that genre, making its way into the core repertoire of the song genre in musical literature. The Lyrisches Intermezzo by Heinrich Heine are the source material for the song’s texts, with Schumann selecting 16 out of the 65 to set to music. The second edition predates the composition of the pieces by three years, having been published in 1837 in Paris. The first edition of A Poet’s Love was published in Leipzig in 1844,and, though Schumann set 20 songs to Heine’s poems, only 16 were included in this first edition.
Robert Schumann was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury caused by a device he created to develop the strength and independence of his fingers ended this dream. One of the most promising careers as a pianist had thus come to an end. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. Schumann’s published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
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