The first performance of György Kurtág's song-cycle written to poems by Anna Akhmatova took place on January 3rd, 2009, in the Carnegie Hall, New York. In this work it is evidence of the exceptionally intimate relationship between the text and the music, that the composer originally imagined the songs as a single vocal solo. The parts for the instrumental ensemble, with their characteristic colours, only later became paired with the vocal solo. The Russian language and the identification with the female figure make the Akhmatova songs an organic sequel or rather a belated successor to the song-cycles Messages of the late R.V. Troussova and Scenes from a Novel. (Zoltán Farkas)