The final song, "Requiem", is a setting of a translation by Lebrecht Blücher Dreves of an anonymous mediaeval poem in Latin.

In February, Clara Schumann and her husband travelled from Dresden to Leipzig, to prepare for the premiere of Robert's opera Genoveva.

However, Genoveva's staging was delayed in favour of a production of Meyerbeer's Le prophète, whose premiere at Paris the previous year had been met very warmly.

Upon his return home, Schumann became extremely productive in vocal music, working on his Scenes from Goethe's Faust and completing many songs.

In fact Schumann was mistaken, and Lenau would not eventually die until 22 August, by coincidence the day of the Sechs Gedichte's premiere.

[1]: 463 This cycle was one of few works not by a French composer which Francis Poulenc and Pierre Bernac performed in a series of concerts given during World War II.