The Complete Songs Of Hugo Wolf

The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf gathers together for the first time every poem Wolf set to music. Alongside the original German texts are translations by leading Lieder expert Richard Stokes, who also provides illuminating commentary. The 36 poets set by Wolf are each given their own chapter: a brief essay on the poet is followed by a note on Wolf's connection with the writer, extracts from letters that throw light on the Songs and convey his mood at the time of composition, and the texts and translations. Short biographies of all Wolf's correspondents flesh out the extraordinary life of this genius. This will be an indispensable volume for all lovers of Lieder.

The tragic story of an erratic genius's life and a survey of some of his works, including his art songs and operas. "Very interesting and very stimulating." — The New York Times.

A groundbreaking look at one of the great song composers of the late Romantic period In the virtual cottage industry of works on fin de siècle Vienna, Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) has been somewhat neglected, perhaps because he was the master of a small genre—the late Romantic lied—and never truly made his mark in the larger forms that command greater public attention. But in the realm of song, he is among the greatest inheritors of Schubert and Schumann, one who was both a traditionalist and a modernist. When the Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick disapprovingly dubbed Wolf “the Richard Wagner of the lied,” he was paying oblique homage to Wolf’s genius as a song composer in the most modern manner. In this book, Susan Youens examines five aspects of Wolf’s compositional art, each exemplifying a different synthesis of traditionalism and modernity and spanning his entire, tragically brief creative life, from his first efforts to his lapse into insanity in 1897. She discusses Wolf’s youthful imitations of Schumann, his genius for comic songs of a kind unlike any of his predecessors, his part in the ballad revival of the late nineteenth century, Wolf in relation to his contemporaries, and his pursuit of operatic fame. Youens looks as closely at the poetic texts as she does the music and includes numerous previously unpublished sketches and fragments, examples from songs now long out of print and difficult to obtain, and citations from Wolf’s vivid letters and other sources of the period.

Viennese composer Hugo Wolf produced one of the most important song collections of the nineteenth century when he set to music fifty-three poems by the great German poet Eduard Mörike. Susan Youens reappraises this singular collaboration to shed new light on the sophisticated interplay between poetry and music in the songs. Wolf is customarily described as 'the Poet's Composer', someone who revered poetry and served it faithfully in his music. Yet, as Youens reveals, this cliché overlooks the rich terrain in which his songs are often at cross purposes with his chosen poetry. Although Wolf did much to draw the world's attention to the neglected Swabian poet, his musical interpretation of the poetry was also influenced by his own life, psychology and experiences. This book examines selected Mörike songs in detail, demonstrating that the poems and music each have their own distinctive stories which at times intersect but also diverge.

With a foreword by the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore, Eric Sams' study (Faber 1961, revised 1983) is a notable landmark in the establishment of Wolf as one of the supreme masters of German song. Comprehensively revised and enlarged in 1983, the main subject matter remains the 242 published songs that Wolf wrote for voice and piano, though the Ibsen songs for voice and orchestra are also discussed. English translations are provided and the backgrounds to the original poems by Morike, Eichendorff and Goethe, as well as the Italian and Spanish sources from which the songbooks were drawn, are fully explored. Each song is dated, its keys identified and vocal range determined. 'This is the most important book in the English language on the songs of Hugo Wolf since Ernest Newman proclaimed the composer's genius in 1907 . . . To the English-speaking student this work is a treasure to which he will find himself returning again and again: it is indispensable to those of us anxious to gain a deeper knowledge of Wolf.' Gerald Moore

This unique volume contains, in parallel translation, a thousand of the most frequently performed Lieder, both piano-accompanied and orchestral. Composers are arranged alphabetically, with their songs appearing under poet in chronological order of composition - thus allowing the reader to engage in depth with a particular poet and at the same time to follow the composer's development. Richard Stokes, whose work in this field is already widely acclaimed, provides illuminating short essays on each of the fifty composers' approach to Lieder composition, as well as well as notes on all the poets who inspired the songs.The volume is notable for the accuracy and elegance of its translations, and for its fidelity to the German verse: every care has been taken to print the words of the sung text, while adhering to the versification and punctuation of the original poem.Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, Goethe, Heine and Schiller are among the highlights of a book which illuminates one of the great musical traditions and will be an indispensable handbook for every music lover.