It is a wonder that the music of Hugo Wolf is seldom performed in comparison to the lied composed by Schubert and Schumann. Wolf expanded upon the development of the lied form as he found it and brought to it a unity between music and text that was unparralelled. His musical settings of the text are often so well matched that his versions would seem to be the definitive version out of many that had been previously set by other composers, and to many critiques they are. As an ardent admirer and follower of Richard Wagner, Wolf has taken on the principles of the Gesamtkunst werk and succeeded in rendering these principles in the minature world of the lied as opposed to Wagners Grand operas. Of all of his lied books (– in total) his settings of (53?) poems by Morike are considered to be outstanding in regards to the synthesis between text and music. Each setting carries its own world with depth and multiple dimensions and they stand alone like wizzend fruit. Through an analysis of two of his Morike lied it is possible to observe the developments that Wolf contributed to the development of the Lied.
An endearing account of Wolf’s reverence and respect towards Richard Wagner, or as he referred to him the _—-) is related in Wolfs letter to (—–) (find letter about opening the door) Out of all the Wagnerites in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century Wolf was by far the most ardent. That his harmonic language is influenced by Wagner is commonly agreed upon, in fact one does not need to listen for long to his lied before hearing one of the ubiquitous references to the composer, however what is more pertinent to this essay is how Wagner’s concept of musical and textural synthesis affected Wolf’s lied.1 Wagner operas displayed an unparralelled synthesis of text and music at the dramatic and expressive level and Wolf in turn has managed to creat a veritable microcosm of these operas in his lied. Wolf was a highly educated and well read man and he gave his utmost attention to only one poet at a time, allowing himself to become fully immersed in the poets world so as to be true to the text. Wolf’s dedication to the text is seen in the fact that each modestly proportioned work is complete and stands alone held together by motivic unity and a strong relation to the text. There is no pervading ‘Wolfian’ style that overrides all of the compositions , in fact the one pervading factor is their unique individuality. The composer, as a mark of his loyalties one might say, often placed the poets name above his own in the published editions of his works.
Love of Poetry
It is important to understand the context in which Wolf lived in late nineteenth Century Vienna. It gives a perspective on his compositional choices and may help us understand why, as a composer, he was not given the full recognition that his works deserved. Vienna was a city of grandeur in decline. The Hapsburg Empire, of which Vienna was the center had been weakened by a slew of military defeats, after the Napoleonic invasions when Europe was divvied up the Hapsburg empire came out second best with a substantial decrease in its power and reign. Of course, there was still an aristocracy present in Vienna and like all aristocracies they chose to remain oblivious to the internal decay of their society which was once the crown jewel of Europe. The most poignant example of this was the construction of the Ring Strasse. We must remember that at the time of these composers Vienna was essentially one large quagmire of a construction site. The ring Strasse was a make work project that built a multitude of anachronistic buildings around the city. It was constructed from the now defunct material of the city wall which once protected the city from Turkish invasions. The ring strasse represented the last vestige at clinging on to a cherished past, it was essentially a façade covering up the fact that there were many civil problems in the city.
For our discussion we shall group the aristocracy largely into the category of the Liberals. Liberal because they were supportive of connections in the east and to other countries.It was from these countries that Vienna had attained its wealth over the years in the form of taxes. In this group we find Brahms, he was brought to Vienna by the Gesselshaft der Musikfreunde who comprised of members of the aristocracy who considered Brahms to be the successor to Beethoven. Therefore Brahms provided the link back to the illustrious lineage of Haydn Mozart and Beethoven, he was the anachronistic façade if you will.
Eduard Hanslick
The opposing force in this unstable brew was the conservatives. Largely formed by a student base, the conservatives were nationalist and strove to take the aristocracy from their mighty perch and bring power back to the people (volk). The individuals prominently involved in this side of things were Wolf, Mahler, Bruckner, Nietche and at the point of inspiration, Richard Wagner. These figures were progressive, this is not to say they disregarded the musical figures of the past, but rather they took established ideas of forged new ones from them. Wolf is a perfect example of this as the lied was already a well developed form from which there had been many masterful handlings such as Schubert and Schumann, however, Wolf turned the Lied into almost a minature opera with a new Wagnerian approach to the relationship between text and music.
Needless to say Wagner was the musical influence behind all of these composers, but most of all Hugo Wolf. None were such avid admires as Wolf, there are accounts of Wolf waiting for hours outside of concert halls for a glimpse of the master, when he arrived he would be there to open the coach door and proceed to run around the building so as to open the concert hall doors for him as well. When Wolf heard news of Wagners death he was inconsolable.
Notable works
Opera
* Der Corregidor (1895)
Lieder
* Morike-Lieder (1888)
* Eichendorff-Lieder (1889)
* Goethe-Lieder (1890)
* Spanisches Liederbuch (1891)
* Italienisches Liederbuch (1892, 1896)
* Michelangelo Lieder (1897)
Instrumental
* String Quartet in D minor (1878-84)
* Penthesilea (1883-85)
* Italian Serenade (1887)
* Heavily influenced by Wagner
* Brought a new level of interconnection between Text and Music
* Studied with Mahler
* Primarily composed Lied
