Schumann's fervid imagination readily led to a love for the romantic.
His early fondness for the works of Jean Paul developed into a kind of
life tendency, which resulted in winning him the title of the "Tone-Poet
of Romanticism." Few of his songs, however, are really dramatic.
_Waldesgespraech_, which Robert Franz called a pianoforte piece with a
voice part added, is probably the best of Schumann's dramatic-romantic
songs. I have always found that audiences are very partial to this song;
and it may be sung by a female voice as well as the male voice. The _Two
Grenadiers_ is strictly a man's song. _Ich grolle nicht_, while sung
mostly by men, may, like the _Erl-King_ of Schubert, be sung quite as
successfully by women singers possessing the qualities of depth and
dramatic intensity.