Ex. 9-3: Der Schnee ist zergangen

No. 5 of Robert Franz's 6 Gesänge (Six Songs, Op. 6), published in 1846 by the Leipzig firm Whistling. The poem is by Wilhelm Osterwald (1820–1887), one of Franz's favorite poets — Franz set dozens of Osterwald's poems, more than by any other poet except Heine. It is a bright spring song: the snow has melted, winter is gone, and love flies to the beloved faster than the spring wind.

Franz was born Robert Franz Julius Knauth. In 1847, his father took his own middle name, Franz, as the family's new surname, and Robert used it too. People liked to point out that "Robert" and "Franz" are the first names of Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert, the two great masters of German song — as if he had been named to become a song composer. But that was just a coincidence — the name came from his father's middle name, and his father had not even wanted him to study music.

From the album Franz: Collected Osterwald Lieder & Songs by William Searle and Marc Verter (2019)
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