The instrumentation is typical of chamber music; however, the interplay seems far more independent.  The work is scored for piano, flute (or piccolo), clarinet (or bass clarinet), violin (or viola),  cello and voice.  Notice how the very high notes of the piano, flute, and clarinet blend with the pizzicato of the violin into a delicate, spatial sprinkling of notes.  Tuneful or soaring melody is lost.  The texture is very busy at times and extremely independent sounding.

     This cycle of songs encompasses the fascination with the moon and its literary association to lunacy.  The song "Mondfleck," the eighteenth of twenty-one songs, presents a busy, soloistic, texture.  The use of Sprechstimme and atonality enhance the mysterious image of the moon.  This surprising vocal technique takes on the qualities of an exaggerated  recitation of a story or poem.  The relationship of the instruments to the voice might appear distant to say the least; however, the texture is extremely well-balanced.  The poem describes Pierrot setting out in pursuit of fortune and adventure.  He notices something on his coat that he cannot get off.  He thinks it is a fleck of plaster and he tries to rub it out the entire night.  It was really a snowy fleck of shining moonlight. Moonfleck.
