The lied and Chopin’s world are not as far removed from each other as one might think at first. The Romantic lied, bel canto and Chopin’s piano works are in fact different ‘dialects’ derived from the the same style or mindset. Likewise of a vocal origin, the nocturnes, the folk-like mazurkas and the other small forms rendered immortal by the “poet of the piano”, can be regarded as songs without words. The appeal of works with words lies in the fact that frequently they offer the key to the closed world of a composer – maybe not the whole one but at least a small corner of it. Although it would be in vain to seek in Chopin’s songs for cues to the contextual background of his mysterious instrumental works belonging to the category of absolute music, the some twenty pieces throw new light on his well-known piano works.