“To Diotima” – this addendum to the title was preserved until shortly before publication of the piano “songs” and mystified Schumann's contemporaries. “The Goddess to whom they are addressed has caused me quite a headache” wrote Joseph Joachim, and even Brahms was not able to identify her. The composer was referring to a novel by Hölderlin, although this work was apparently no longer generally very well-known in Schumann's day. “Quite original pieces, there is a very particular atmosphere in them” – thus Clara passed judgement. In our revised edition Ernst Herttrich provides a detailed illumination of the background to this unusual work.
