Hugo Wolf: The Vocal Music [Hardcover]

Susan Youens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 1992

In the virtual cottage industry of recent works on fin-de-siecle Vienna, Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) has been somewhat neglected, perhaps because he was the master of a small genre - the late Romantic lied - and never truly made his mark in the larger forms that command greater public attention. But in the realm of song, he is among the greatest inheritors of Schubert and Schumann, one who was both a traditionalist and a modernist. This study examines five aspects of Wolf's compositional art, each exemplifying a different synthesis of traditionalism and modernity and spanning his entire, tragically brief creative life, from his first efforts to his lapse into insanity in 1897. Wolf's youthful imitations of Schumann (a common phenomenon at the time), his genius for comic songs of a kind unlike any of his predecessors, and his part in the ballad revival of the late 19th century are discussed. The author investigates the poetic texts as closely as the music and includes numerous previously unpublished sketches and fragments, examples from songs now long out-of-print and difficult to obtain, and citations from Wolf's vivid letters and other sources of the period.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[This book] represents a powerfully impressive intellectual and aesthetic achievement. There has never been a better-informed and more perceptive commentary on its chosen musical subjects in this century; nor is there likely to be in the next.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (September 21, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691091455
• ISBN-13: 978-0691091457
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,046,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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