Schubert’s Ständchen (Serenade) on Rellstab’s poem “Leise flehen meine Lieder” (Gently My Songs Entreat) not only numbers among the most well-known art songs, but is still a real hit today in Liszt’s arrangement for piano solo. Initially published in 1838 in a version without ossias, the arrangement began its triumph on the piano by 1840 at the latest – probably not least thanks to Liszt’s obliging addition of easier variants – as numerous editions published throughout Europe during the composer’s lifetime testify.
Liszt himself liked to play the Ständchen as an encore and even wrote small cadenzas for it, which are of course taken into account in the new Henle Urtext edition. English and French translations of the German poem as well as the placement of the song text above the music round off the edition, for which Evgeny Kissin provided the fingerings.