This book provides the German texts of the most frequently studied and performed songs and gives literal word-for-word translations under each line, plus clear English prose versions of each poem. Neither is a singing version, but each contributes to the understanding and appreciation of the song.

The composers represented are Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler and Richard Strauss.

"It is difficult to put my enthusiasm for these translations into adequate words. This is exactly what students desperately need, an accurate word for word detail, without which a Lied cannot be coloured vocally. This project is urgently needed; it is a wonderful idea." --Dame Janet Baker