Commenting on this cycle of 35 songs, the composer writes: “The contradictions in human nature delighted him; he loved the unevenness of life and all its manifestations. While nineteenth Century musical settings focused almost exclusively on his atmospheric and lyrical poetry, it was not until the twentieth Century that adequate musical expression could be found for Heine’s poetic realism, unique in its time. In this selection I have attempted to juxtapose the various personae and forms used by Heine so as to present a picture of his personality.”