HUGO WOLF
Dr David C F Wright
There is no greater song composer than
Hugo Wolf although the American composer
Ned Rorem is the finest composer of
songs of our time.
Wolf excels Schubert, Schumann, Richard
Strauss and all the others because of
many factors which I will set out for
your polite consideration. It has also
to be said, however, that Britain has
produced some excellent song composers
in Ivor Gurney, Stanford, Thomas Dunhill,
Roger Quilter, Michael Tippett, Eric
Coates and the finest of them all, Gerald
Finzi. Not to be ignored are the fine
songs of Haydn Wood which, apart from
Roses of Picardy, have been forgotten.
Wolf is a tragic character. Many words
can be used to describe him with elements
of truth. He was a manic depressive,
poverty-stricken and mad. He sought
attention and love in the wrong dimension
confusing sex with love which is a common
malaise even to this day. As with Schubert
he suffered from syphilis which killed
both of them. Because Wolf lived about
twelve years longer than Schubert, his
syphilis progressed to resultant dementia.
Wolf insisted that Mahler was not the
director of the Vienna State Opera but
that he was.
This is so sad. Wolf was a song composer
par excellence but his self-destruction
has deprived us of possible further
gems.
He was born in Windischgraz in 1860
and was taught music by his father who
was a merchant in leather and leather
goods. Wolf entered the Vienna Conservatory
in 1875 where Mahler was a contemporaneous
pupil.
In 1877 the event which changed his
life for ever occurred. He had queried
some of the teaching which he felt to
be biased and he also challenged the
old fashioned attitude of the faculty.
In his private life he was wayward and
during this time contracted syphilis.
The faculty said that they objected
to Wolf's observations about the college
but it was probably more to do with
the student's red-bloodedness. He was
expelled in 1877. This destruction of
his self-esteem was to haunt him for
the rest of his short life. It is reported
that Mahler was particularly unpleasant
towards him which, if true, may explain
Wolf's demented outburst later in life.
For ten years Wolf taught piano and
he was an excellent teacher. But he
made no money.
This introduces the first consideration
of his being a fine song composer. His
piano accompaniments are truly super
and sometimes very difficult! Sometimes
they are sparse and at other times virtuosic.
They are not just the repetitive vamping
of chords as in many Schubert songs.
Sir Michael Tippett once told us that
Wolf's splendid piano parts had inspired
him in such works as Boyhood's End and
the Heart's Assurance and that is evident.
Wolf was for a few months an assistant
conductor in Salzburg.
His first works were instrumental and
orchestral. In 1880 his String Quartet
in D minor appeared. In 1883 his impressive
Symphonic Poem: Penthesilea was completed.
It was ridiculed without mercy in Vienna.
He never wrote deliberately for orchestra
again. He was so offended and turned
to songs. By 1886 his choral work Christ
Nacht was available followed the success
of his Six Eichendorff Lieder for choir
of 1881. In 1887 there appeared a Serenade
in G for string quartet and, of course,
five years later, the popular Italian
Serenade. All these works have class
but not all of them are well-known.
But then he made a grave error of judgement.
Or was it?
He became a music critic in Vienna
from 1884 to 1887 and he made many enemies.
Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904) was also
a music critic and could be scathing
. Wolf emulated this and he took sides.
He advocated the greatness of Wagner,
a valid position, but assassinated the
character and music of Brahms thus following
in the steps of Robert Schumann who
originated the David Club in 1834 to
'fight musical philistines.' The fact
is that both Brahms and Wagner are great
composers and one does not have to choose
between them.
This was Schumann's error of judgement
which may have its seat in his own mental
problems. It is a great pity because
he wrote some exquisite songs. Frauenliebe
und Leben, Op 42 of 1840 is the first
truly song cycle. Brahms wrote some
superb songs as well. And so did Liszt.
Around 1888 Wolf discovered the poetry
of the German poet Mörike (1804-1875)
who had died some 12 years earlier and
he was inspired.
And this leads to the second consideration
of his being greatest composer of songs.
He captures the character of each song
with a remarkable focus. It is as if
he has a full understanding of all the
text and his music enhances it.
The third consideration is the unfailing
concentration in the songs. There is
nothing in them that is foreign, that
should not be there. There is no padding
or time spinning.
In 1888 there appeared his Mörike
Lieder, some fifty three songs to texts
by this poet, a tremendous undertaking
of commitment and devotion.
And this raises a fourth consideration.
Is there any other composer who has
been so committed to one poet to spend
all his time continuously to produce
such a voluminous set of songs and in
one outpouring?
This was not his first sets of songs.
Previously he had written:-
12 Lieder aus der Jugendzeit (1877-8)
Six Songs for women's Voices
Six Songs to texts by Scheffel, Mörike,
Goethe and Kerner
Four Poems of Heine, Shakespeare and
Byron
Six Poems by Gottfried Keller
Three Ibsen Songs
Three Poems by Reinick
Three Poems by Michelangelo
This also shows his affection for the
art of literature and why his songs
are often called art songs.
The fifth consideration is that his
songs are intellectual rather than superficial
or banal as much German lieder is. This
may lead some people to believe that
his songs are rather arid. I have heard
it said, and with some truth, that those
who understand German are the most likely
to enjoy these gems the most.
In 1888 he composed Der Feuerreiter
for soloists chorus and orchestra to
a text by Mörike. The work seems
to be forgotten.
The only work Wolf wrote between 1892
and 1894 was the Italian Serenade. He
was recharging his batteries. His songs
were now widely admired and Berlin set
up a Hugo Wolf Society. The syphilitic
condition was getting worse and madness
set in as it did in Smetana who also
suffered from syphilis.
His amazing concentration resulted
in his composing the Spanish Songbook
containing forty four songs during 1889-90.
Theses were translations into German
by Paul von Heyse and Emanuel Geibel.
Then followed the Italian Song books,
two volumes of 22 and 24 songs respectively.
The first volume was completed in 1891
and the second in 1896.
This leads to the sixth consideration
of Wolf as the greatest song composer.
He started a vocal project and stuck
to it without deviation. Other composers
would have many projects going at once
and not be so focused and, as a consequence,
their work could suffer in many ways.
Wolf orchestrated some of these songs
and later, Max Reger made some superior
orchestrations.
The seventh consideration of Wolf's
songs is that they are sophisticated.
They are never banal or inconsequential.
Neither are they shallow nor 'cheap'
to be whistled in the street.
In 1895 he wrote his opera Der Corregidor
and was preparing a second opera, Manuel
Venegas, when he was admitted to an
asylum. They could do nothing about
his venereal disease but gave him psychiatric
help. Thinking he was cured he was released
in 1898 but in October of that year
he threw himself into the Rhine in a
bid to commit suicide as had Robert
Schumann forty four years earlier.
He spent his last years in a hospital
in Vienna where he died in 1903.
The greatest song composer of them
all?
Certainly the greatest song composer
up to and including his own time, I
would suggest.
Dr David C F Wright
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