Friedrich Silcher / Alfons Scheirle (arr.) Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten

Personal details

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) is regarded as one of the most important German poets of the 19th century. He was born in Düsseldorf and is best known for his lyric poetry, which combines Romanticism with sharp social criticism. Many of his works deal with love, nature and freedom. Because of his political views, Heine lived in exile in Paris for many years.

He also occupies a prominent place in the history of music. His lyrical texts were set to music by numerous composers and had a particularly profound influence on the Romantic art song. Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Hugo Wolf, in particular, created musical works of enduring significance based on Heine’s poems. The poetic combination of linguistic simplicity, emotional depth and often ironic ambiguity offered composers a wide range of possibilities for musical interpretation. As a result, Heine’s poetry became a central part of the Romantic art-song repertoire and continues to influence vocal music to this day.

Personal details

Studied education, school music, history and musicology in Stuttgart and Tübingen. Music teacher at Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium Fellbach until 1998, took on various roles within the Baden-Württemberg school administration; choirmaster for 60 years, leading role in the Swabian Choir Association, including training choirmasters; appointed honorary association choirmaster; various training courses, presentations and publications on issues relating to choirs and voice training from children's voices to the voice in old age. Personal details