Abstract
Liszt’s Liebesträume (1850) for solo piano is one of the most well-known piano pieces of the romantic period. However, the poetry behind the music is often overlooked. Before the piano piece was written, Liszt set Ferdinand Freiligrath’s poem O Lieb’ so lang du lieben kannst (1847) as a soprano/tenor Lied. It was not until three years later that the song was transcribed for piano solo. This paper will examine several differences that arise from the poem’s two settings. These pieces were compositionally influential at the time Liszt was developing programmatic piano literature. The composer used romantic elements in the piano transcription to portray the meaning of the poem. One can also argue that some dramatic aspects of the text that are present in the vocal piece were lost in the transcription for the piano.