The summer of 1922 brought another bout of depression for Schoeck—not helped by Mary's mother writing full of reproaches after his broken promise of marriage to her daughter. But again emotional turmoil brought songs in its wake. In July and August 1922 Schoeck wrote a total of seventeen—three to texts by Eichendorff, the rest by Lenau. In the midst of writing them he decided to add the two songs he had written the previous November and turn them all into a song cycle with orchestral accompaniment. It was at the beginning of this bout of prolonged activity that Schoeck allowed Corrodi one of his rare insights into the compositional process, which he interpreted, not surprisingly, in sexual terms. Corrodi wrote:

Schoeck's mood throughout these two months was highly changeable. His work would lift his spirits, but then he would plunge back into depression and bitterness. In one moment he could rage against marriage as an unnatural institution, and in the next against Mary's mother for not wanting him to marry her daughter.