We hereby present the third and final volume of Robert Schumann’s complete songs from the period between January 1840 and the beginning of 1841 – the so-called ‘year of song’. It opens with the small Op. 36 set written in July to verse by Robert Reinicke, and closes with the Twelve Songs to words from Friedrich Rückert’s Liebesfrühling, composed together with Clara. (The original texts of works written earlier can be found with their translations in the two previous volumes.)

The idea behind our series is to provide the most faithful possible poetical translations of the lyrics, which we present together with the original texts. The new translations were produced to commission for the Fryderyk Chopin Institute by Prof. Andrzej Lam. We hope that they will prove useful for both music lovers and students, and also for all professional musicians – singers, teachers and accompanists – and that they will contribute to a better understanding and increased popularisation of the songs.

Krzysztof Teodorowicz (Editor)