2.Muttertändelei

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was living in Berlin and working as the principal conductor of the Berlin Court Opera when he composed the three songs published as his Lieder (3), Op. 43. Dedicated to Ernestine Schumann-Heink, one of the stars of the Court Opera, Strauss set three poems by old German poets. Composed in August, the first of the three songs, Muttertändelei sets a five-verse comic poem by G.A. Burger as a quick-time tongue-twister with bright and cheerful piano accompaniment. The following summer, Strauss transcribed the song for orchestra and, along with Meinem Kinde and Wiegenlied, performed them frequently with his wife as Three Songs for a Mother.

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