Pieces › Robert Schumann

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai

Dichterliebe, Op. 48 · No. 1

Robert Schumann · 1840 · F♯ minor · 27 bars · 35 chords analysed

The opening song never settles in its key — it ends on an unresolved dominant seventh, like a question about whether love will last.

“A Poet's Love” sets 16 poems by Heinrich Heine, from the hope of spring to bitter disappointment. Schumann wrote it in 1840, his “year of song”, when he finally married Clara Wieck. The piano often has the last word.

Keys visited: F♯ minor, A major.