Ernst Wilhelm Wolf
- born 1735, Kapellmeister in Weimar.
Wolf is another who has managed to slip
History’s moorings so it’s pleasant
to encounter him in the guise of symphonist
especially as he’s known – if at all
– as a Singspiel and piano composer.
He heard C P E Bach and Hasse, married
Franz Benda’s daughter, Karoline, was
appointed to his distinguished position
in Weimar under Duchess Anna Amalia,
suffered a stroke in his late fifties
and died in 1792.
His symphonies date
from his lengthy period in Weimar and
span the years 1772 to 1791. He wrote
approximately thirty-five of which twenty-six
are known to have survived. Some are
independent symphonic works whilst others
have a more straightforward connection
to the theatre inasmuch as they were
used as Singspiel overtures, such as
the C major recorded here. The principal
influences as the notes make clear are
those of C.P.E. Bach and the Mannheim
school. That said there are numerous
instrumental felicities of scoring that
attest to his clever ear. Note the entry
of the wind instruments in the opening
of the E flat major symphony and the
quintet-like sonorities he conjures,
or the charm of the Allegretto and the
old Viennese dance saluted in the Allegro
finale.
The F major has a sliver
of a serioso introduction followed
by a characteristic Mannheim rocket
before Wolf returns to the pensive material
heard first. Wolf switches between withdrawal
and assertion in a most imaginative
way and the thematic material is apt
and supportive of the schema. The Andante
is quietly affecting, flutes prominent,
with touching harmonic scrunches – though
it’s a little too extended at over ten
minutes and isn’t that a Pergolesi quotation
from the Stabat Mater along the way?
Nevertheless Wolf is good at generating
tension through anticipation of repeated
material and he shows it splendidly
in the fast Allegro finale – even if
the material itself lacks distinction.
The C major Symphony
is the only one to be dated with any
certainty, 1786, and it’s also the only
one of this quartet to be written in
four movements. Fluent and fluid it
would make perfect material as a singspiel
overture. Wolf wrote excellently for
winds, here flutes in particular, and
the Minuets are deliciously done, and
one of the highlights of the disc. He
even writes a Mozartian throwaway ending
in the Allegro finale. The little D
major is barely seven minutes long and
would doubtless have served the same
function as the C major. The Mannheim
crescendo makes itself prominent and
the brass run free.
A worthwhile retrieval
then of an otherwise well nigh forgotten
Weimar scion. Appropriately it’s the
local band that promotes him, the Franz
List Chamber Orchestra under Nicolás
Pasquet, and they play with commitment
and especial finesse in the winds. One
for those curious about followers of
C.P.E. Bach and admirers of the Mannheim
aesthetic.
Jonathan Woolf
Early
Music
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Weimar/Nicolás
Pasquet 
