The collection Vom Pagen und die Königstochter is made up of a cycle of ballads by the poet Geibel, which Schumann adapted for this work. Many consider this the composer's most powerful and effective orchestral ballad.

Like his other ballads, it lies structurally somewhere between oratorio, cantata, and ballad. The chorus and soloists tell a story of a young love cruelly destroyed by a powerful ruler, and a supernatural punishment brought about by the eventually greater power of music (a theme at the heart of Des Sängers Fluch as well as a popular Romantic-era concept). Schumann's own music is among his most atmospheric, from the hearty violence of the hunting party to the savage violence of the page's murder, to the music of the magic harp made from the page's corpse, conveying the otherworldly and deadly beauty that brings about the final destruction. Also like Des Sängers Fluch, it ends with the chorus grimly telling the ending of the story.

The sicilienne from Fauré's Pelleas et Melisande suite is strongly reminscent of the sicilienne the mermaids sing in this work.

© Anne Feeney, All Music Guide