Brahms composed his first volume of choral-watzes in August of 1869 to poetry taken from Polydora, an 1855 collection of German folk-poems and love-songs assembled by George Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875). Rather than the usual accompaniment for piano solo, Brahms elected to provide one for piano duet. The first performance was given in Heidelberg on November 4, 1869. Brahms orchestrated the accompaniment for 8 of the 18 selections of this set (plus another subsequently included in his Op.65 set) for a concert given at Berlin's Hochschule on March 19, 1870.

Offered here is a newly-engraved vocal score by Richard W. Sargeant Jr., who orchestrated the 10 numbers from this set which Brahms never orchestrated. The accompaniment is of course for piano four-hands as Brahms wrote it for this present vocal score, though this appears in small type under the vocal parts. The present vocal score is naturally designed for choruses and vocalists. The matching full score, study score and orchestral parts for the Brahms-Sargeant orchestration of the complete Op.52 are also available from Serenissima Music.