The constant, flowing lines of the piano accompaniment provide a perfect

backdrop for the gently nostalgic text and vocal lines. While the

piano part does not overtly imitate the sound of the nightingale, its

melody, rarely directly attached to the vocal lines, creates the impression

of thoughts brought on by the sound of the bird's song. And

at the conclusion of the song, the brief piano postlude makes a graceful

finish.

The vocal lines are more pensive than passionate, but the occasional

crescendo, as in the first phrase of the last line, increases the

depth of emotion. However, it's interesting to note that the musical

climax for the voice is not on the more emotional lines of text, "So

much ardor gives new birth in me to the echo of past springs, " but the

repetition of "oh, first nightingale, " the present song of the bird is

stronger than the nostalgia.

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