"Romance lyrique" is one of Kodaly"s earliest surviving compositions, a typical product of his formative years, reflecting the composer"s ideals and musical knowledge at that time. The autograph manuscript held at the Kodaly Archives, Budapest (shelf-mark: Ms. mus. 374/a, b) is dated August 8th, 1898; the present first edition is based on this single known source. The manuscript consists of a separate violoncello and piano part (the piano part is not written in the manner of a score). In spite of the fact that it is evidently a copy relying on an earlier draft and intended for performance, it contains a lot of deletions and emendations and, with regard to the dynamics and articulation of the two instruments, several inconsistencies, often slips of the pen. The latter have been tacitly corrected whenever they seemed to be evident clerical errors. The editorial additions and suggestions are in square brackets.