The text, as in all these song transcriptions, should be sung (silently!) by the pianist while playing in order to get the right inflection. The song is given the full treatment by Liszt, done with such panache that it totally carries you away. The text is by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866), and it captures perfectly what Schumann must have felt, finally having been able to marry his beloved after years of fierce opposition from her father. ‘Widmung’ is the first song in the cycle ( Myrthen, Op 25). On the eve of their marriage, in September 1840, Robert presented a collection of songs to his beloved Clara as a wedding present-something he had kept completely secret from her for months. It seems wholly appropriate to begin this recording with one of the greatest piano transcriptions of all time: Franz Liszt’s arrangement of Robert Schumann’s love song Widmung (‘Dedication’).
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