Ádám Kondor compiled this series from poems written by Thomas Hardy after the age of 70, when the poet was mourning the death of his wife. According to the composer, he was fascinated by the figure of the rather cynically morose old poet... In his decision to have a solo violin accompany the singer he was influenced by references, in biographies of Hardy, to the poet's father's passionate violin-playing. Bockhampton is Hardy's birthplace.