Hugo Wolf

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Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – February 22, 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origins, best known for his art compositions, or Lieder.

He brought a concentrated expressive power to late Romantic music, closely related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but with a major change in style. Despite having several bursts of exceptional achievement, especially in 1888 and 1889, depression frequently interrupted his creative periods, and his last composition was written in 1898, shortly before he suffered from a mental breakdown caused by syphilis.

Early life (1860–1887)

Hugo Wolf was born in Windisch, Austria, Duchy of Styria (now Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia), then a component of the Austrian Empire. Herbert von Karajan was related to him on his maternal side. He lived in Vienna for the majority of his life, becoming a representative of a "New German" style in Lieder, a trend that followed Richard Wagner's expressive, chromatic, and dramatic musical styles.

Wolf's father was taught piano and violin by his father before his foursome, and Sebastian Weixler taught piano and music theory in primary school. Subjects other than music were unable to hold his attention; he was kicked out from the first secondary school he attended as "completely ineffective," and after a falling-out with a professor who spoke about his "damned music," he dropped out. He went to the Vienna Conservatory, much to his father's displeasure that his son did not attempt to make his living off music. He was suspended for "breach of discipline," but the troubled Wolf would claim he was dismissed in protest over the school's conservatism.

After eight months with his family, he returned to Vienna to teach music. Despite the fact that Wolf's fiery temperament was not suited to teaching, the musician's musical abilities, as well as his personal charisma, earned him praise and admiration. Since being supported by benefactors, he was able to live as a composer, and the daughter of one of his oldest benefactors, Vally ("Valentine") Franck, his first love, with whom he was involved for three years. hints of his mature style will be apparent in his Lieder during their friendship. Wolf was prone to depression and mood swings, which would have an effect on him all through his life. Franck left him just before his 21st birthday, he was despondent. He returned home, but his family ties were also strained; his father was still worried that his son was a ne'er-do-well. Wolf's brief and undistinguished tenure as Salzburg's second Kapellmeister only reinforced this belief: Wolf had neither the temperament, the recording technique, nor the passion for the decidedly non-Wagnerian repertoire, and within a year, he had returned to Vienna to teach in much the same conditions as before.

Wagner's death in February 1883 was the third deeply moving event in the young composer's life. The song "Zur Ruh, zur Ruh" was released shortly afterward and is considered to be the best of Wagner's early performances; it is speculated that it was meant as an elegy for Wagner. Wolf often despaired of his own future in the ensuing years, in a world where his idol died but left countless footsteps to follow, but no advice on how to do so. He was often moody, alienating customers and clients, but his charm helped him hold them longer than his conduct deserved. Franz Liszt, who adored greatly and who, like Wolf's former mentors, had urged him to pursue new heights; this time, the symphonic tone poem Penthesilea appeared. His work as a critic started to pick up. He was merciless in his critique of inferior works he encountered taking over the times's musical atmosphere; those of Anton Rubinstein he found especially odious. However, he was as zealous in his defense of Liszt, Schubert, and Chopin, whose genius he recognized. His vitriol made him some enemies, as he is known as "Wild Wolf" for the ferocity and expressive strength of his convictions. He composed little during this period, and if he did write, he couldn't perform; the Rosé Quartet (led by Vienna Philharmonic concertmaster Arnold Rosé) would not even look at his D minor Quartet after it was picked apart in a column; and Penthesilea's inaugural conductor Hans Richter had nothing but sarcastic praise for 'the man who dared to criticize "Meister Brahms";

He stopped writing in 1887 and began writing again, perhaps not unexpectedly, the first songs he wrote after his compositional hiatus (to poems by Goethe, Joseph von Eichendorff, and Joseph Viktor von Scheffel) stressed themes of endurance and determination under adversity. He completed the terse, witty one-movement Italian Serenade for string quartet, which is considered one of the finest examples of his mature instrumental compositional style a short time. His father died just a week after leaving him devastated, and he did not write for the remainder of the year.

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