Voss dates this painting to circa 1889 which places Canzonetta d'Amore amongst his earliest surviving works in oil. Painted in the year of his first public exhibition at the Münchener Jahresaustellung at the Königlicher Glaspalast, it is still very much in the prevalent vein of contemporary Naturalism and the influence from his work as an illustrator and cartoonist reveals itself in the strong outlines of objects and figures.

Stuck's fascination with the sexual imperative, for him the strongest urge in humans, appears as a muted theme in this work. Canzonetta d'Amore shows the first level of desire; the man's longing for a companion is expressed through music, with only the putto as an unseen recipient of his courtship. His later versions of the theme, such as Belauscht of 1902 (whereabouts unknown) (Voss, op. cit., no. 245/41) and Pan of 1917 (whereabouts unknown) (Voss, op. cit., no. 485/22), are much more direct in their expression of sexuality.