[1] In his previous collections of songs, the composer set poetry from the Young Poland group as well as the German Romantics.

However, prior to this cycle's composition Szymanowski began to stray from the Young Poland poetry and had become infatuated with the writings and ideals of the great 14th-century Persian poet Mohammed Hafiz of Shiraz (also known as "Hafez").

While setting the texts, Szymanowski wrote in a letter to friend and musicologist [Zdzislaw Jachimecki], "I am extremely moved by my Hafiz.

[2] The songs were premiered by Szymanowski's sister, soprano Stanislawa Szymanowska and pianist Arthur Rubinstein in 1912.

Szymanowski's love for the poetry of Hafiz continued to grow and in 1914, the composer scored the first, fourth and fifth songs from his Op.

24 cycle is clearly a transitional work, due to the highly Romantic musical settings of the exotic texts of Hafiz.

24 cycle sums up his previous works as a composer in the early Romantic style and prepares for the next phase of his compositions, many of which were inspired by oriental and exotic colors, which established his reputation outside of Young Poland.

Hafiz of Shiraz, the original poet, was a supreme master of Persian ghazel poem in the 14th century.

The ghazel is a typical form of Persian lyrical poem in early middle-ages which have themes of love, wine, physical beauty, and intoxication.

[6] Death as ecstasy is a vital theme throughout the texts, paraphrased by Hans Bethge, who also provided the translation for Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

His unique but extraordinary musical versification inspired many composers such as Eisler, Krenek, Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, Ullmann, Webern, and Szymanowski.

The piano accompaniment is chromatic, with perpetual motion meandering around the key of F# Major and a brief minor-third tonicization on Eb-Major at the climax of the piece, on the repetition of the words ‘Und du’ (And you).

This repetition also occurs on the highest vocal pitch of the piece, and disrupts the flow of each textual line of eleven syllables by expanding it to thirteen, further marking it as the climax of the song.

The “exotic” text is illustrated with the use of a whole-tone scale, yet the harmony and arc-like shape of the piece reflects more of an influence by the late German romantic school.

A cyclical, ‘tortured, and highly chromatic progression’ opens the song,[9] illustrating the writhing of someone who is suffering, the obfuscation of a tonal center, and the ‘exotic’ East Orient, through the descending semi-tones used as a symbolic tool by European composers of the time.

The melody of Die brennenden Tulpen combines the use of semi-tones for color, rather than to embellish a tonal center and whole-tone scales, which avoid a tonal center for their lack of leading tones, to establish the mood of the song, a slow-burning, yet passionate, perpetual fire that continues, even in death.

‘It is perhaps in this one song that it is possible to see the bridge between Szymanowski’s “Germanic” mode of expression and the later, middle-period style.’[12] Though ‘dance was a recurring feature of Szymanowski’s music,’ this one differs ‘from the earlier, rather heavier examples,’ exhibiting ‘more refined, rocking rhythms’ found in some of his middle-period pieces, such as Metopes, op.

[12] There is an A pedal in the left hand of the piano for much of the song, though at the beginning of the piece it is embellished by a G minor triad, and at the end by a repeated chromatic motive alternated with an octave E in the right hand, ‘dying away to an open fifth, leaving an abiding impression of near stasis,’ thus placing little emphasis on structural tonality.

[13] The climax of this piece occurs on a G# resolving briefly to an A, suggesting a turning point in the structure of the cycle itself, as the past three songs have peaked at G, G# and A, respectively.

To Szymanowski, who was seeking freedom of expression himself, the taboo of nudity was a tangible element of those pleasures forbidden to the Europeans yet allowed to the ‘heathens’ of the far East.

The accompaniment is a constant ascending and descending of arpeggios and scales, painting an impression of the wind, upon which the voice is the message that the wind bears, mostly in broad half and quarter notes traveling chromatically in half steps with the occasional leap.

This synthesis of piano and voice illustrates one concept, rather than the text painting of individual words as in the first piece.

In keeping with the overall shape of the set, the range of the song peaks on a G, leading into the dynamic climax on a G flat on the word ‘Schonheit,’ or ‘beauty.’ The harp-like accompaniment ends on a D octave, but there is no triad and therefore no feeling of cadence.

The final song of the set, Trauriger Frühling (Sad spring) ties together the underlying themes of the cycle: nature, yearning, love, suffering, and death.

Then, there is specific text painting, when the melody exhibits a descending whole tone scale, depicting ‘from your depths,’ then rises at ‘you shall rise as Spring’s most beautiful flower!” Finally, there is a cadence in D major, the key of optimism, symbolizing the emergence of Spring from Winter, or, the emergence of life from death.

Es gibt kein mittel gegen diese Wunden, die so verheerend glühn in meiner Brust.

Ich weiß es wohl, Er selber ist der Ärmste, ganz betrunken und geisteswirr durch meiner Liebsten Schönheit.

Ich werde weinen gleich der Frühlingswolke, Vielleicht daß du dann doch aus deiner Tiefe Emporsteigst, als des Lenzes schönste Blume!