Origins and forerunners of song cycles probably cannot be determined with any finality. Cycles and circles predate history and continue to permeate our lives in an unbroken tradition: seasonal rites and holidays, gathering around a fire, round table discussions, circular dances, ecological circles of life, wedding rings, halos … Even within our comparatively brief musical history, examples of cyclic forms abound, from cyclic Masses and madrigal cycles to cyclic symphonies and record albums. Song cycles are yet another example in an ancient history of cyclic art forms mirroring patterns in our lives. As the nineteenth century approached, however, cyclic forms in all the arts acquired greater significance, blossoming primarily in Germany after the turn of the century into the quintessentially Romantic song cycle, markedly different in style and structure from earlier cycles. Why Germany, why the nineteenth century, and why the Romantic song cycle require explanation: they were not mere coincidence.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, primary sponsorship for composers began to shift from aristocratic classes to ambitious upper middle classes, who displayed their acquisition of culture in their piano parlors, creating an almost insatiable market for songs. Songs that combined bourgeois pleasures with at least the appearance of high art were in particular demand. As the market grew, so of course did the need for composers to distinguish their songs from the rest, prompting ever more fanciful titles. Terms now associated with song cycles arose haphazardly out of vague associations, intentions, and meanings: whimsical titles such as Liederkreis (Lied-circle), Blumenkranz (Flower-wreath), Liederroman (Lied-novel), or Liedercyklus (Lied-cycle) sometimes indicated something new in the music, but sometimes did not, and a fair number of cycles held no characterizing title at all.