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TheBook of Songs (Buch der Lieder) wasHeinrich Heine's first major collection of poetry, in which he compiled all his poems known at the time. The first edition was published in 1827 in Hamburg byHoffmann und Campe.
The Book of Songs contains hardly any new poems, but rather represents a chronological collection of already published works. In a letter dated November 16, 1826, to Friedrich Merckel, Heine writes:
Some friends insist that I should publish a selected collection of poems, arranged chronologically and rigorously chosen, and believe that it will be just as popular as theBürger,Goethe,Uhland, etc.Varnhagen gives me many rules in this regard. I would include part of my early poems […] I would not charge a penny for this book; its affordability and other requirements for becoming popular would be my only considerations. It would be my joy to show masons andDümmlers that I can manage, and this book would be my main work and provide a psychological portrait of me – the dark-serious youth poems, the “Intermezzo” combined with “Homecoming,” pure blooming poems, e.g., those from the “Harzreise”, and some new ones, and finally all the colossalEpigrams. Do find out from Campe if he dislikes such a plan and whether he expects sales for such a book – it would not be an ordinary collection of poems.[1][a]
The publisher Julius Campe was initially against the book but later changed his mind and published it.[citation needed]
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The Book of Songs consists of several cycles:
All cycles had previously appeared under different titles. For example:
In total, theBook of Songs contains 237 poems, of which 8 are new. Many of the poems had already been published prior to printing in one of the above-mentioned publications in magazines outside the cycles. Some had already been printed four times.
Nevertheless, theBook of Songs became a great success and was published in numerous new editions.
TheBook of Songs encompasses poems written between 1817 and 1826, representing Heine's early work. It took almost twenty years for the second major poetry collection,New Poems, to be published in 1844 (followed by the third and final collection,Romanzero, in 1851). The politicalsatire typical of Heine's later works, such asGermany. A Winter's Tale, is not much found in theBook of Songs. Instead, 142 of the 237 poems deal withunrequited love. Heine's feelings for his cousin Amalie and later for her seven years younger sister Therese (1807–1880),[b] both daughters ofSalomon Heine, are cited as explanations for this interpretation.[citation needed] Heine expressed his views on such interpretations in a letter toKarl Immermann dated June 10, 1823:
TheBook of Songs also includes political poems. For example,Donna Clara critiques contemporary antisemitism. Among the most famous poems areThe Grenadiers,Loreley (“I do not know what it means”),In the Beautiful Month of May,The Old, Evil Songs, andBelsatzar.[citation needed]
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Heine had problems with censorship throughout his life – even with theBook of Songs. Here, however, it was less due to political motives and more because of the use of words and phrases that were deemed too obscene. For example, the beginning of a poem that originally appeared in the first edition as:
was later changed to:
Similarly, the poems were criticized for vulgar language. An example with particularly many such expressions is the fresco sonnetGive me the mask; I want to disguise myself.
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After the first edition in 1827, twelve more were published. By the fifth edition, Heine had revised it each time. The editions were published:
In contemporary editions of Heine's complete works, including the significant Düsseldorf Heine edition, the early poems are usually referred to under the term “Book of Songs.” Poems that were not included in theBook of Songs can be found in the appendices. The poems are no longer sorted after the older publications.