First off, if you've never heard Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, you're missing out on one of the most beautiful works of art ever created.

Schumann wrote this in 1840 (he wrote a total of 130 songs that year). The words are by Heinrich Heine. Heine's poems offered suitable material for Schumann to express his love for Clara Wieck, finally to become his wife in September 1840 after five years of separation and a legal battle against Clara's father.