Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)

Life and Career

Austrian composer. He left particularly remarkable achievements in late Romantic Lieder. Inheriting the tradition of German Lied that began with Schubert, and influenced by Wagner, he profoundly explored the sonority and meaning of the text (poetry), thereby forging his unique world of Lied. His father was involved in the leather industry but also had a deep understanding of music and could play various instruments. Wolf himself was introduced to piano and violin by his father and became familiar with music from an early age, playing with his siblings. Wolf's interest in music was so strong that it adversely affected his school performance, and he frequently changed schools.

Upon entering the Vienna Conservatory in 1875, he assiduously attended operas and concerts. In the same year, he saw Wagner himself conduct Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. Captivated by these operas, Wolf visited Wagner himself at his hotel and had a meeting with him. At the Conservatory, he had a strained relationship with his instructors and was expelled after two years. However, during these two years, he gained supporters and was able to continue his creative activities while receiving financial assistance and working as a tutor.

In 1883, he sought feedback on his own works from the music critic Hanslick and sent scores to Schott and Breitkopf & Härtel, requesting publication, but was rejected. In April of the same year, he met Liszt, received advice, and began working on the symphonic poem Penthesilea. From the following year, he began writing music criticism for the Viennese weekly magazine, Wiener Salonblatt. Here, he mercilessly criticized "conservatives" such as Hanslick and Brahms, incurring public resentment.

After a prolific period in the late 1880s, his compositional output significantly diminished from the 1890s onwards, and coupled with the onset of mental illness, his creative activities declined.

Musical Style and Works

Generally, the piano parts in Wolf's Lieder assume the conventional role of providing harmonic accompaniment to the voice and indicating the meter. A distinctive feature of Wolf is his frequent incorporation of characteristic motifs, which, through repeated iteration, generate symbolic meaning and contribute to the atmosphere of the piece.

Thus, while Wolf achieved great success in Lieder, he also left behind several works for piano.