Frühlingsnacht (‘Spring night’) is the final song in Schumann’s collection entitled Liederkreis, Op 39, and is another of the nearly 140 songs he wrote during 1840, the glorious ‘Year of Song’. In a letter to his beloved, Schumann wrote that this cycle contained ‘my most romantic music ever, with much of you in it, dearest Clara’. The Liederkreis is set to poetry by Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857).

The original accompaniment for this song is very virtuosic, at times almost overshadowing the vocal line. Liszt cleverly incorporates both, at times choosing to go only with the piano part. The original song is quite short; Liszt doubles the length of the piece by tacking on a sort of free improvisation the second time round. The triumphant feeling reached in the words ‘She is yours, is yours!’ is extended with a stringendo at the end, the music going right to the top of the keyboard.

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2021