A three-bar quotation from Dallapiccola's Goethe-Lieder, signed and inscribed to a Steven Adamson on Dartmouth College letterhead. (Dallapiccola was a visiting composer-in-residence at Dartmouth College in 1969). A small photograph portrait of the composer is affixed at the lower right corner (but could be easily removed).

In the early 1950s, Dallapiccola fully embraced serialism and began writing predominantly for voice. The Goethe-Lieder is an early example of this new, more refined style which would define the rest of his compositional career.