Prince Albert had a talent for composing small scale pieces. He took inspiration from his engagement and marriage and dedicated many of his pieces to Queen Victoria. On his engagement in November 1839 he sent the queen a three-volume, privately printed set of his Lieder und Romanzen and for their wedding service the following February he wrote a duet, Liebe hat uns nun vereint (‘Love has now brought us together’).

This is one of a pair of volumes of Prince Albert’s songs, composed between 1847 and 1853. It consists of settings of verses by his brother Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the German lyric poet Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862).