Tanzt dem schönen Mai entgegen, possibly composed in 1823–4, is the first of a group of spring songs and idylls: one of Felix’s favourite genres. Those who live in northern climes know full well the ecstasy that spring’s arrival brings with it; for this, his earliest spring song, he turned to the poetry of Ludwig Hölty (born 1748, one year before Goethe’s birth, died at age twenty-seven in 1776 of tuberculosis), a member of the Hainbund, or ‘League of the Grove’, a small group of poets in Göttingen who created a new feeling for Nature in their works.
from notes by Susan Youens © 2009
