The song cycle Erotikon Op.23, which sets the texts of August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Wilhelm Osterwald and Karel Stieler to music, was composed by Foerster between 1895 and 1896 in Hamburg.  Otto June printed the cycle shortly after it was written together with other song cycles; Josef Theurer made a versified Czech version of the poems for the later Czech edition published by Mojmir Urbanek in Prague. This edition is faithfully based on the second, i.e. Urbanek's edition.<br>
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The cycle consists of four lyrical pieces praising the purity, trust, sincerity and beauty of love.  These are firmly fixed miniature tunes of pure craftsmanship and content, which strictly adhere to the expression of one momentary feeling.<br>