Abstract
My recital consists of an assortment of romantic art songs from the European concert tradition. These art songs cover many musical and emotional treatments of love, while all are confined to the masculine hetero-normative perspective on romantic love. My purpose is to demonstrate that, more than just entertainment, these songs are cultural artifacts through which one can discover past musical and social paradigms. The recital is sectioned by language and location which serves to illuminate the specific movements and characteristics of different areas of western culture. Accordingly, this paper provides a brief background and description of terms before examining each of the composers and pieces.