Robert Schumann - An Intimate Recital

Of the thirty-one songs that make up this recital all but four are concerned with the intimate emotional experiences of a woman or young girl. All the events, expectations, disappointments, joy and sorrow, are communicated directly by the person experiencing them. The four observational songs (Der Nußbaum, die Lotusblume, Herzeleid and Schneeglöckchen) in which the poet acts as our intermediary, also share a preoccupation with private, youthful yearning and heartbreak, with only Schneeglöckchen falling into the archetypal lieder catch-all of gender neutral ‘nature’ song.