Vermischter Traum, commissioned by the Berliner Festspiele/Musikfest Berlin, was the first work Rihm composed after a serious illness. He chose verses by Baroque poet Andreas Gryphius, who wrote under the influence of the catastrophe of the Thirty Years' War. He took it as an invitation to reflect on fundamental things, to get to the bottom of what was essential. Indeed, Rihm maintained a direct, unbroken relationship between the singing and the text. "Something must sing inside," is one of his core statements, so that even where the human voice is not involved, the beautiful lyrical line goes on.