Romanticism Exhibition

The Boy’s Magic Horn

The “songs” in The Boy’s Magic Horn appeared without music, inspiring composers of the day to write their own melodies. One of the first song collections was by F. H. Himmel, a kapellmeister at the Berlin court who was affiliated with the “Second Berlin School” of song composition. Influenced by Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Carl Friedrich Zelter, this group favoured simple strophic folk songs. The title page vignette references the first volume of The Boy’s Magic Horn.