Many of Henry W. Longfellow’s poems were set to music, including “Snow-Flakes” which evokes in the reader a wintry scene. Published in 1863 as part of the collection titled Birds of Passage, “Snow-Flakes” features themes of grief and loss, which were common to many of Longfellow’s poems, especially those written in the aftermath of his wife Fanny’s tragic 1861 death.
This arrangement was composed in about 1870 by Henry Pontet, who also produced works under the surname Piccolini. Pontet inscribed and sent this copy to Longfellow, writing on the cover “To Henry W. Longfellow with the Composer's most respectful compliments.” As also noted on the cover, the work was composed for and dedicated to Mlle. Tietjens. This was Mademoiselle Thérèse Johanne Alexandra Tietjens, a Hungarian (or possibly German) born opera singer who was prominent in the London opera scene of the 1860s and 1870s. Pontet must have thought highly of Tietjens, as he dedicated more than one of his compositions to her.
The number of Longfellow’s poems set to music are another indicator of the poet’s popularity during his lifetime, and such arrangements were being produced as early as the 1840s. His words and the cadence of his writing seem to have leant themselves to musical versions, although he did not always agree, writing in his journal in 1853 that “My pieces are hardly lyric enough for music”. Despite his assessment, the compositions were widely performed and allowed his work to reach an even wider audience than it already did through the written word alone. Many of these were sent to Longfellow by the composers as evidence of their admiration for the man and his work.