[1] He was prompted by a commission from Robert Blum [de] to compose a piece of around 30 minutes for his chamber choir, the Zürcher Madrigalchor, ideally for twelve voices and few instrumental players.

[2] He took the text from Joseph Bédier's novel Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut, a reconstruction of the story that the medievalist had published in 1900, using writings by Béroul and Eilhart von Oberge.

[8] Martin, who felt that the audience had to understand the text, prepared the translation himself, together with Rudolph Binding [de].

[4][6] The music has been performed in concert often, but also been staged as a chamber opera several times, including in Zürich, Paris and Berlin.

[6] A version in English, The Love Potion, was approved by Martin's widow, Maria, and was produced at the Boston Lyric Opera in 2015.

[3] The work was recorded in 2006, with soloists Sandrine Piau, Jutta Böhnert [de], Hildegard Wiedemann, Ulrike Bartsch, Steve Davislim, Jonathan E. de la Páz Zaens and Roland Hermann, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Scharoun Ensemble conducted by Daniel Reuss.

[2] A video was recorded in 2017 live of an English version produced by the Welsh National Opera, with soloists Caitlin Hulcup, Rosie Hay, Sian Meinir, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Tom Randle, Gareth Dafydd Morris, Howard Kirk, and Stephen Wells.