The principal numbers are the opening song, a joyous hymn to spring, in canon form, for two sopranos; the dancing choruses of the elves, for two sopranos and alto; the male chorus, "In the thick Wood," which is very effective in harmony; the exultant bridal songs, "Why sound the Horns so gayly?" and "Now at the Miller's;" the duet, "In the smiling Valley, 'mid the Trees so green;" the Grave Song; the quartet, "Oh, Joy! foretaste of Heaven's Rest;" and the duet, "I know a blushing Rosebud." The work as a whole has never attained the popularity of his "Paradise and the Peri," though detached numbers from it are frequently given with great success. The inadequacy of the poem has much to do with this; and it must also be remembered that it was written at a time when Schumann's powers had begun to weaken under the strain of the mental disorder which finally proved fatal. Reissmann, in his analysis of the work, says:-- "The man who had hitherto refused to allow even the simplest composition to flow from any but a distinct idea, who constantly strove to enter into relations with some distinct movement of the heart or the imagination, here grasped at a poem utterly destitute of any rational fundamental idea, and so arbitrary in execution, so tasteless in parts, that the musical inspiration it offered could never have moved any other composer to set it to music." The Minstrel's Curse. "The Minstrel's Curse," for solo voice, chorus and orchestra, was written in 1852, and first performed in the same year. Its text is based upon Uhland's beautiful ballad of the same name, which was adapted for the composer by Richard Pohl. The libretto shows numerous variations from the original text. Some of the verses are literally followed, others are changed, and many new songs and motives are introduced. Several of Uhland's other ballads are assigned to the minstrel, the youth, and the queen, among them "Die Drei Lieder," "Entsagung," and "Hohe Liebe," as well as extracts from "Rudello," "Lied des Deutschen Sängers," "Gesang und Krieg," and "Das Thal." Instead of the beautiful verse in the original poem:-- "They sing of spring and love, of happy golden youth, Of freedom, manly worth, of sanctity and truth. They sing of all emotions sweet the human breast that move, They sing of all things high the human heart doth love. The courtly crowd around forget to sneer and nod, The king's bold warriors bow before their God. The queen, to pleasure and to melancholy willing prey, Down to the singers casts the rose which on her bosom lay,"-- which leads up to the tragedy, it is the singing of the "Hohe Liebe" which is made the motive by Pohl, who from this point on follows the story as told by Uhland.