His requests for such a trial reading of his scores were seldom refused, and the practical training in instrumentation which was afforded by the experience he always regarded as invaluable.

Much that he tested in this manner was condemned as a result of the illuminating, if chastening, revelations thus brought about; and almost all of his orchestral writing which he afterward thought fit to publish received the benefit of such practical tests.
The music which dates from this period comprises the three songs of opus 11 ("Mein Liebchen,"[2] "Du liebst mich nicht," "Oben, wo die Sterne gluehen"); the two songs of op.

12 ("Nachtlied" and "Das Rosenband"); the Prelude and Fugue (op.

13); the second piano suite (op.

14)--begun in the days of his Darmstadt professorship; the "Serenade" (op.