 While he maintained a lifelong love of Romantic music, the extreme contrast between his "Klavierstücke" and his more romantic works comes from his modernist desire to find a new means of expression.For him, works like the "Gurre-Lieder" or "Verklärte Nacht" fulfilled the tradition he loved, but it was works like these "Klavierstücke", or the "Fünf Orchesterstücke" that attempted to reach beyond it.The first five pieces were written in a single day, February 19, 1911, and were originally intended to comprise the entire piece.