"Eric Sams examines each of Johannes Brahms's 213 songs and reveals the full extent of the poetry, fantasy and humour of the composer's work. The book begins with an introduction to Brahms the song-writer and then provides a complete song-by-song analysis, giving the German text as set by Brahms followed by an English translation of each of the poems, a commentary on points of musicology and literary detail, as well as practical help and suggestions for the singer.".

"Essential to the composer's method of song-writing was a harmony between musical form and poetic text. Sams takes us right to the heart of that creative method and helps to explain how and why a particular part of the text matches a particular piece of music. He includes a list of the motifs employed by Brahms to help show how the mind of the composer worked when seeking apposite music for the imagery of the poem."--BOOK JACKET.