1848 was the great year of revolutions in Europe. Schumann had written various pieces supporting the ideals of these revolutions, such as his Opus 62, Three Patriotic Songs for Male Chorus, but by 1849, the aftermath had become all too real. He had written about half of the songs for this collection when he fled Dresden to avoid military conscription, and finished it while staying in the tiny village of Kreisca. He told a friend that in many ways, the turmoil in the external world drove him deeper into his art, and Clara commented that most of his works from the time had a spring-like peacefulness. However, there are indications that the wars were still on his mind: he noted "revolution in Dresden" in the manuscript of the 26th song, "Des Buben Schutzenlied" (The boy's hunting song), and chose a text about a painful escape from military conscription for the seventh song.

These songs are organized by order of maturity, and the cycle ends with "Kennst du das Land" (Do you know the land), the song sung by the enigmatic half woman, half child Mignon, which he also used to begin his Opus 98, Lieder und Gesange aus Wilhelm Meister. The first songs are accordingly simple, drawn from poems that provide easy musical imagery, such as the fluttering of the butterfly in "Schmetterling" (Butterfly), the second song, though he avoids the too-obvious literal imitation of a cuckoo's call in "Fruhlingsbotschaft" (Spring's herald). He also ignores the delicate irony of "Von Schlaraffenland" (From a land of plenty), giving it a hearty setting that charms even while it misses the point. (He does much the same later in the cycle, when he skips the more overtly revolutionary second verse of "Des Knaben Berglied.")

The seventh song, however, the first of the two "Zigeunerliedchen" (Little gypsy songs), is the first one in a minor key, and it introduces the harshness of human cruelty in real life, away from the world of fantasy and fairy tales; "Zigeunerliedchen II," in the same minor key, is gently resigned to unhappiness, with the story of a kidnapping. There is a brief return to the major with a song of a maturing boy who is ready to defend his home, and the moods become lighter with the next songs, including the tender return of A minor in "Der Sandmann" (The Sandman), the charming and infectious "Marienwurmchen" (Ladybug), and the warm anticipation of "Er ist's" (Spring is here), before returning to a mood of uncertainty and longing with "Kennst du das Land."

While the cycle was well-suited for family performances, consisting mostly of solos, but with a few pieces for multiple voices, it doesn't lend itself as well to a professional recital. However, most of the songs lend themselves to performance outside the cycle. "Marienwurmchen," "Kennst du das Land," and "Er ist's," in particular, have often graced the recitals of lyric sopranos such as Arleen Auger, Lucia Popp, and Elisabeth Schwartzkopf.

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13.Marienwürmchen ('Marienwürmchen, setze dich')

Included in Lieder-Album für die Jugend Op. 79 (Song Album for the Children), are the delicate, delightful words of an anonymous poem from the Des Knaben Wunderhorn collection as set to folk-like music by Robert Schumann. Appearing in the tune, "Marienwürmchen," Op. 79/13 (Lady Bug), originally written in the key of F major, they detail a child's interaction with an enchanting insect. The notes of its three melodically identical verses are almost entirely paralleled in the treble of the piano part, which lends to a facile performance. The piece offers only mild dynamic variation; thus, attention to the grace notes and articulation marks is of utmost importance. Its playfulness provides great variation to the heroic, humorous, ironic, and/or lyrical moods found in the other works of the cycle. Although it was intended for home use and became popular as a children's tune, the composition also fared well in professional settings. For example, Schumann was so moved by Jenny Lind's refreshing performance of the work at one of his wife's concerts in Northern Germany, in 1849, that he dedicated Sechs Gesänge, Op. 89, to her to show his appreciation. "Marienwürmchen" continues to hold a place of moderate popularity among his songs.

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22.Des Sennen Abschied ('Ihr Matten, lebt wohl, ihr sonnigen Weiden!')

In the folk-like Des Sennen Abschied, Op. 79/22 (The Herdsman's Farewell), a setting of Schiller's text, Robert Schumann incorporated subtle details of the ranz des vaches, the Swiss Alpine cattle call. As indicated by its title, the song depicts a seasonal farewell from a herdsman to familiar pastures. A little over halfway through the piece, at the vocalist's first crescendo, the work modulates from its original key of C major to E major during mention of the flowing springs of May, bringing the music and the text closer; when the protagonist realizes that the seasons have not yet changed, the music quickly returns to its home key. Grace notes in the vocal line create a yodel-like warble, and mordents in the piano treble provide comparable flexibility above an alphorn-like drone in the bass. This song and Die Sennin, Op. 90/4 (The Alpine Dairy Maid), which feature similar music and text, showcase the composer's talent for successfully experimenting with exotic concepts in his music.

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23.Er ist's ('Frühling lässt sein blaues Band')

With words by Mörike, Robert Schumann's Er ist's, Op. 79/23 (It is Spring), made a delightful addition to his already charming Lieder Album für die Jugend, Op. 79. Both the piano and the voice part are quietly restrained in the song's first half, a suggestion that spring's arrival was faintly sensed but not yet confirmed. After delicate, light staccato arpeggios create the echo of a harp, the protagonist loudly bursts forth with recognition of the season's entrance; here, the vocal line simultaneously reaches its highest notes and its first forte crescendo within just two demanding measures. The composer repeated segments of the text several times, varying each occurrence, especially in terms of dynamics, to emphasize the protagonist's elation. In the postlude the accompanist plays a legato dip, then concludes with two clean, separated staccato chords. For performance, the song's original key of A major is preferred over other transpositions. Hugo Wolf also set this composition's text in 1888 along with 52 more of Mörike's poems; he later orchestrated his version in 1890.

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26.Schneeglöckchen ('Der Schnee, der gestern noch in Flöckchen')

By omitting four verses from one of Rückert's poems, Robert Schumann was left with an adequate number of words to create Schneeglöckchen, Op. 79/26 (Snowdrop), the delightful miniature that encourages spring's arrival. The composer didn't commonly include tempo markings with his songs for solo voice, but indicated "M. M. eighth note = 80" for this work. The music of the first verse is repeated twice with a slight change in note values in the third. Even though the vocal line is filled with a variety of dynamic markings, the tune's tenderness is best maintained if sound grows only a bit at the crescendos. Below the singer's line, the piano part, marked Sehr gebunden (very legato), is pianissimo throughout most of its bell-like glimmering. This salon style of music was also heard in Er ist's, Op. 79/23, just a few songs earlier in Lieder Album für die Jugend, Op. 79.

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28.Mignon ('Kennst du das Land')

The songs of Lieder-Album für die Jugend, Op. 79 (Song Album for the Children), conclude with "Mignon," Op. 79/28, which derives its text from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. Written in the summer of 1849, this dramatic and sustained work focuses on the doomed girl of the novel who poignantly recalls and longs to return to her homeland with her protective father, the harper. The fact that Robert Schumann composed the work, as he described in a letter, "amidst a veritable children's uproar" helps it to appropriately fit into the cycle, however, he was drawn not to the childlike theme of the poem, but rather, to its grieving expressions. He chose to place it at the end of the cycle to symbolize the onset of a fuller emotional life that begins at the close of youth. Shortly before the work was composed he too was thrust into a turbulent awareness of life's painful realities during a revolt in Dresden. The work is characterized by the moaning inflection of Mignon's lyrics, a mildly chromatic vocal line, a conscious use of leitmotifs, and sixteenth notes that are beamed into groups of threes in the piano part. Goethe's text inspired Schumann so greatly, as it did Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and H. Wolf, that he created an entire cycle, Op. 98, based upon the poems of Wilhelm Meister and reused "Mignon," Op. 79/28, under the title "Kennst du das Land?" Op. 98a/1, to open the volume. The song is more popularly recorded with the works of Op. 98 than with those of Op. 79.

© Meredith Gailey, Rovi