Ex. 11-3: Nacht und Träume

Composed around 1825 (D. 827), to a poem by Matthäus von Collin. Marked "Sehr langsam" (very slowly) with a single dynamic indication — pianissimo — that never changes throughout the entire song.

The pianist Gerald Moore, one of the 20th century's greatest song accompanists, called it one of the most difficult songs to play: the slow, sustained broken chords in the piano must sound beautiful without becoming mechanical.

The last seven bars of the song were used by Samuel Beckett in his 1982 television play of the same name, Nacht und Träume.