Max Meyer-Olbersleben, born in 1850 in Olbersleben, Thuringia, studied at the orchestra school in Weimar under Franz Liszt and later at the Royal Academy of Music in Munich under Gabriel Josef Rheinberger and Peter Cornelius. He became professor of counterpoint and composition in Würzburg and served as director of the Royal Conservatory until his retirement in 1920. During his lifetime, 114 works were published, with a preference for smaller forms such as choral works, songs, and piano pieces. Thanks to his training in Weimar and Munich, Meyer-Olbersleben was familiar with both the traditionalist and new German musical trends of the era, and the chamber music gems recorded here for the first time bear witness to a deep Romantic sensibility and the spirit of a new musical awakening.

The works are performed by musicians renowned as soloists, even beyond national borders: Nina Karmon (violin), Roland Glassl (viola), Benedict Kloeckner (cello), and Oliver Triendl (piano).