anyway one of the questions asked, in the final song, "die alten, bösen Lieder," what did the narrator significantly not intend to put in the coffin and drown in the sea? and this should have been a gimme bc the correct answer for anyone who had paid attention to the class discussions was, of course, himself -- this being a rare song cycle in which the narrator survives.

but the bestworst "well, you're not wrong" answer someone in my class gave was

This time, this coincides with the beginning of a new month - and not any old month at that. It is the month of May, seen by romantic poets as the time of renewal and celebration.

Robert Schumann, in his cycle Dichterliebe, took a different approach. The quiet, introspective opening song, based on a poem by Heinrich Heine, recalls how “in the beautiful month of May, when every bud burst open, in my heart love blossomed.” It’s in the key of f-sharp minor, not noted for representing optimism and unbridled joie de vivre. Indeed, this “beautiful month of May” seems to bear the label Once Upon A Time, and the love it recalls must have wilted long ago.

Here, recorded live in 1965 at the Salzburg Festival, is the incomparable Fritz Wunderlich, accompanied by Hubert Giesen, with Schumann’s “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai” op 48 No 1.