When the Vienna Schubert Association performed a song for Richard Strauss on his 60th birthday, the encounter gave rise to the request for a work for male voice choir. Strauss felt a spiritual affinity for the nostalgic verses penned by Eichendorff and wrote «Die Tageszeiten» («Times of the Day»). Here the choral work is framed by two spiritual works of a very special nature: Max Reger’s setting of the poem «Requiem» by Hebbel and Szymanowski’s «Stabat mater», in which the Polish composer came to terms with the early death of his beloved niece.