It was not until 1840 that, after a courtship strewn with difficulties, Robert Schumann was able to marry his beloved Clara Wieck. This was his ‘Year of Song’, and Joseph von Eichendorff’s melancholy poems of fearful wanderings, images of nature and lonely nights were the perfect vehicle for Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39, which he described as his most romantic cycle. From the same year, Schumann’s Drei Gedichte, Op. 30 conjure memories of medieval times. The narrative ballad Die Löwenbraut tells of a disturbingly violent love triangle, while the Sechs Gedichte, Op. 36 evoke an idealised, fairy-tale image of Germany.