The Songs of Robert Schumann

Eric Sams' study of Schumann's 246 songs (Faber 1961, revised 1993) - a companion volume to his The Songs of Hugo Wolf, also available in Faber Finds - remains a classic text. By providing a translation, commentary and notes for each of the songs, tracing original sources and relating recurring themes vividly to Schumann's life, Sams provides a unique documentary of Schumann's song-writing art. The book includes a foreword (to the First Edition) by the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore, who writes: 'So felicitous is the writing that one is hardly conscious of the erudition and profound thought that have gone into the making of it . . . Eric Sams has produced a work that will be read and read again as long as Robert Schumann's songs are loved.'

Eric Sams (1926-2004) was exceptional both as a musicologist, specialising in German lieder, and as a Shakespeare scholar. His fascination with lieder was first inspired by hearing recordings of Hugo Wolf songs in the collection of one of his schoolmasters. He had an exceptional gift for quoting at length the texts of almost of any verse, including the complete works of Shakespeare. He studied modern languages at Cambridge and then joined the Civil Service. He became a highly respected music critic, with a witty and allusive style, reviewing regularly for, among others, the Times Literary Supplement. He wrote several books, and specialized in the relationship between music and language, particularly the text settings of the Romantic song composers.