Liebesträume (German for Dreams of Love), is a set of three solo piano works (S/G541) by Franz Liszt, published in 1850. Often, the term Liebesträume refers specifically to No. 3, the most famous of the three. Originally the three Liebesträume (notturni) were conceived as songs after poems by Ludwig Uhland and Ferdinand Freiligrath. In 1850 two versions appeared simultaneously as a set of songs for high voice and piano, and as transcriptions for piano two-hands. The two poems by Uhland and the one by Freiligrath depict three different forms of Love. Uhland’s Hohe Liebe (Exalted Love) is saintly, or religious, love: the “martyr” renounces worldly love and “heaven has opened its gates”. The second song evokes erotic love: “Gestorben war ich”. “Dead” is a metaphor here; Uhland refers to what is known as “la petite mort” in French (“I was dead from loves bliss; I lay buried in her arms; I was wakened by her kisses; I saw heaven in her eyes”). Freiligrath’s poem for the famous third “notturno” is about unconditional mature love: “Love as long as you can! The hour will come when you will stand at the grave and mourn” (“O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst”). (Taken from Wikipedia)