As with the Dichterliebe, Frauenliebe und Leben or the song cycles with texts by Heine and Eichendorff, the Kerner Cycle op. 35 was written in 1840, Schumann’s “Liederjahr”. Yet it has a special place: it was composed in the time immediately following Schumann’s marriage to Clara Wieck. Schumann set a series of poems to music in November, during a “quiet week, which went by with composing and much loving and kissing”, and the cycle was complete by the turn of the year. It contains a great deal of intimate musical innuendos. The first edition of 1841 was soon followed by a second issue, many of the songs were published individually and the “Wanderlied” soon became a core piece in the repertoire. With our edition the songs in Schumann’s cycle are once again being published together in a single volume.