Erich Kästner's melancholy, idyllic last book of poems is among the most popular lyric works of the author. The musical version by Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz was created due to a friend's suggestion: Over several years, the musical setting of one month of Dreizehn Monate (Thirteen Months), written as an occasional piece, was complemented by settings of the other months until the cycle was complete. As always, Schultz's style ranges between tonality and atonality.