As part of the Dolce Suono Ensemble project "Mahler 100/Schoenberg 60," Stucky was commissioned for a work reflecting on these two remarkable composers. For Stucky, this was a look back to his beginnings as a composer, and he injects cues from both Mahler and Schoenberg in his completed work. For the text, he chose one of the Ruckert poems that Mahler never did use, but one which has attracted some 60 other composers. The song of lost youth and farewell incorporates a nod to Schoenberg (including the Pierrot ensemble scoring) and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde at the end.