Hyperion Records

'A mere trifle' Capell calls this song, but there is nothing insipid or half-hearted about it. It greets Spring who is decked out as a virile young man, and Schiller has charmingly cast this vernal visitor as a potential rival for his girl's affections, a rival moreover who keeps on handing him flowers to woo her with. Schubert adapts Schiller's original five stanza shape by using the strophes in pairs and repeating the second verse. The first setting of these words (D283) is gentle and Mozartian, but this romp is in lusty Landler rhythm with some sparkling vocal coloratura.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1988