Ex. 14-7: Widmung

"Widmung" (Dedication) is the first song in Robert Schumann's Myrthen (Myrtle, Op. 25), a set of 26 songs he wrote in 1840. He wrote it for Clara Wieck, the woman he married that year, as a declaration of his love. The words are by the German poet Friedrich Rückert.

In the poem, the singer calls the loved one "my soul, my heart," and at the very end, "my good spirit, my better self." The song is in three sections. The first and last sections are fast and passionate, and the calmer middle section shifts to a new key (E major) before the opening music returns. In the piano part at the very end, Schumann echoes the melody of Schubert's "Ave Maria."

"Widmung" is the first song of Myrthen, and the collection's last song, "Aus den östlichen Rosen," is also in this app. Ex. 6-4: Aus den östlichen Rosen by Robert Schumann In 1848, Franz Liszt arranged "Widmung" for solo piano, and pianists still often perform that version today.

Music video by Fatma Said and Joseph Middleton (2025)

From the album Robert & Clara Schumann: Lieder by Barbara Bonney and Vladimir Ashkenazy (1997)
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