Once upon a time there was a composer and editor of a prestigious magazine, which in its articles treated colleagues who composed for voice and piano somewhat disdainfully because he believed that “music for voice was less important than music for orchestra.” The composer in question is called Robert Schumann and he said these words in 1839. In 1840, he wrote about 160 songs, which comprises more than half of his celebrated and most famous songs.

 

 

J.W. Goethe wrote his own version of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", the poem Der Rattenfänger. We can hear this week the song composed by Hugo Wolf, performed by Thomas Allen and Geoffrey Parsons