The Love Songs of Hafiz (German: Des Hafis Liebeslieder) is the name of two song cycles by Karol Szymanowski, Op. 24, with piano accompaniment, and Op. 26, with orchestral accompaniment. There are six songs in Op. 24, three of them orchestrated in Op. 26, and five additional songs, unique to Op. 26. They were composed in Vienna, Austria, in 1911 and 1914, respectively. The works represent a transition between the first and second periods of the composer's style. Background The six songs contained in Szymanowski's Op. 24, composed in 1911, represent the transition from the composer's early, 'Germanic’ late-romantic style reminiscent of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss into his pre-modern middle period marked by a fascination with oriental themes. In his previous collections of songs, the composer set poetry from the Young Poland group as well as the German Romantics. However, prior to this cycle's composition Szymanowski began to stray from the Young Poland poetry and had become infatuated with the writings and ideals of the great 14th-century Persian poet Mohammed Hafiz of Shiraz (also known as "Hafez"). Szymanowski first encountered Hafiz's texts in a volume of his poetry at the Imperial Library in Vienna in 1911. This discovery apparently unleashed an outpouring of creativity in the composer. While setting the texts, Szymanowski wrote in a letter to friend and musicologist [Zdzislaw Jachimecki], "I am extremely moved by my Hafiz. Allah Himself has thrust him into my hands. I think these texts are ideal...". His enthusiasm for this cycle continued through to its completion, as he is quoted in another letter to his friend Stefan Spiess stating, "I have composed a new song cycle after words by Hafiz, a wonderful poet... You cannot imagine what satisfaction this work has been giving me". The songs were premiered by Szymanowski's sister, soprano Stanislawa Szymanowska and pianist Arthur Rubinstein in 1912. Szymanowski's love for the poetry of Hafiz continued to grow and in 1914, the composer scored the first, fourth and fifth songs from his Op. 24 and added five new settings creating The Love Songs of Hafiz, Op. 26 for voice and orchestra. The Op. 24 cycle is clearly a transitional work, due to the highly Romantic musical settings of the exotic texts of Hafiz. Yet in the first, fourth and fifth songs of the cycle, Szymanowski gives a glimpse of his new direction with the blurring of tonality reminiscent of the