Description

The eight songs in Richard Strauss' "Opus 10" hold a unique place in his Lieder corpus. Composed in 1885 with texts by the now little-known poet Hermann von Gilm, this was the first time Strauss had set an entire song cycle by a single poet. The resulting work, published as a collection, contains some of Strauss' most beloved songs, like "Zueignung," "Die Nacht," and "Allerseelen." While these individual numbers are extremely popular, the cycle as a whole, with its thoughtful structure, also deserves closer examination and more frequent performance. In aligning himself with the Romantic song tradition of composers like Schubert and Wolf, the young Strauss skillfully explores the diverse facets of unrequited love.

The Henle Urtext edition is based on the 1887 first publication, which Strauss dedicated to the renowned Bavarian court singer Heinrich Vogl - an invitation for today's male vocalists to embrace this wonderful Strauss song cycle, rather than leaving it solely to female interpreters.