Hugo Wolf
Austrian composer known for intense, expressive Lieder.
Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf, an Austrian composer born in 1860, is best remembered for his art songs, known as Lieder. In this genre, he achieved a concentrated emotional force that stood apart in late Romantic music, sharing a certain brevity with the Second Viennese School but differing sharply in method. His career saw intense bursts of creativity, especially in 1888 and 1889, yet depression often stalled his work. He wrote his final piece in 1898, after which a mental breakdown linked to syphilis ended his composing.
Wolf came into the world in Windischgrätz, Styria (now Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia), then part of the Austrian Empire. His parents were Filip Wolf and Katharina Nußbaumer; the conductor Herbert von Karajan was a maternal relative. Raised mostly in Vienna, he became a figure in the "New German" Lieder movement, which drew on Richard Wagner’s expressive, chromatic, and dramatic innovations. A child prodigy, he learned piano and violin from his father at age four, later studying piano and theory with Sebastian Weixler in primary school. Academics beyond music held little appeal: he was expelled from his first secondary school as "wholly inadequate," left another due to trouble with compulsory Latin, and quit a third after clashing with a professor who scorned his "damned music." He then entered the Vienna Conservatory, against his father’s wishes that he avoid a musical career, but was dismissed after two years for "breach of discipline"—though Wolf himself claimed he left out of frustration with the school’s conservatism.
After eight months at home, Wolf returned to Vienna to teach music. His fiery nature made teaching difficult, but his musical talent and personal charm attracted patrons who supported him as a composer. One patron’s daughter inspired him to write to Vally Franck, his first love, with whom he had a three-year relationship. During this time, his mature style began to emerge in his Lieder. Prone to depression and mood swings, he was devastated when Franck left him just before his 21st birthday. He went home, but family tensions persisted; his father still saw him as a failure. A brief, unsuccessful stint as second Kapellmeister in Salzburg—where his temperament, conducting skills, and dislike for non-Wagnerian repertoire doomed him—ended with a return to Vienna and teaching.
Wagner’s death in 1883 deeply affected Wolf. The song "Zur Ruh, zur Ruh," composed soon after, is considered his finest early work and may have been an elegy for Wagner. In the years that followed, Wolf often despaired of his own future without his idol’s guidance, leaving him temperamental and prone to alienating friends and patrons, though his charm often won them back. His songs caught the attention of Franz Liszt, who, like earlier mentors, urged him toward larger forms. Wolf followed this advice with the tone poem *Penthesilea*. He also intensified his work as a critic, harshly attacking inferior music—especially Anton Rubinstein’s—while fervently supporting Liszt, Schubert, and Chopin. Dubbed "Wild Wolf" for his fierce convictions, he made enemies. He composed little during this period, and what he wrote often went unperformed: the Rosé Quartet rejected his D minor Quartet after a critical column, and the Vienna Philharmonic, under Hans Richter, mocked *Penthesilea* as the work of a man who had dared to criticize Brahms.
In 1887, Wolf quit criticism and returned to composing. His first new songs, set to poems by Goethe, Eichendorff, and Scheffel, focused on strength and perseverance. Soon after, he completed the concise, witty *Italian Serenade* for string quartet, a standout of his mature instrumental work. A week later, his father died, leaving Wolf devastated; he composed nothing for the rest of the year.
The years 1888 and 1889 marked a turning point. After a dozen of his songs were published late in 1887, Wolf sought solitude to compose, traveling to the Werners’ vacation home in Perchtoldsdorf, near Vienna. There he wrote the Mörike songs.
- born
- 13 March 1860
- died
- 22 February 1903
- field
- Composer
- nationality
- Austrian
- known_for
- Lieder (art songs)
Verified Timeline
Quick Facts
- Birth Place
- Windischgrätz, Duchy of Styria (today Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia)
- Birth Name
- Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf
- Birth Date
- 1860-03-13
- Death Date
- 1903-02-22
- Death Place
- Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Hugo Wolf was born in Windischgrätz in the Duchy of Styria (now Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia), then a part of the Austrian Empire. A child prodigy, he was taught piano and violin by his father beginning at the age of four, and once in primary school studied piano and music theory with Sebastian Weixler. He was dismissed from the first secondary school he attended as being 'wholly inadequate', left another over difficulties in compulsory Latin studies, and after a falling-out with a professor who commented on his 'damned music', quit the last. He went to the Vienna Conservatory but was dismissed after two years for 'breach of discipline', though Wolf would claim he quit in frustration over the school's conservatism. After eight months with his family, he returned to Vienna to teach music. His fiery temperament was not ideally suited to teaching, but his musical gifts and personal charm earned him attention and patronage. A daughter of one of his greatest benefactors inspired him to write to Vally ('Valentine') Franck, his first love, with whom he was involved for three years. When Franck left him just before his 21st birthday, he was despondent. Wagner's death in February 1883 was another deeply moving event; the song 'Zur Ruh, zur Ruh' was composed shortly afterward and is considered the best of his early works, speculated to be an elegy for Wagner. Wolf's activities as a critic began to pick up; known as 'Wild Wolf' for the intensity of his convictions, he was merciless in criticism of inferior works, particularly those of Anton Rubinstein, but fervent in support of Liszt, Schubert and Chopin. He abandoned his activities as a critic in 1887 and began composing once more, completing the terse, witty one-movement Italian Serenade for string quartet shortly before his father died, leaving him devastated.
Reader's Guide
Hugo Wolf's significance lies in his concentrated expressive intensity within the Lied form, a unique contribution to late Romantic music. His most productive periods were 1888 and 1889, during which he composed the Mörike-Lieder at a frenzied pace in Perchtoldsdorf, then the Eichendorff-Lieder, the 51 Goethe-Lieder spilling into 1889, and the Spanisches Liederbuch begun in October 1889. Wolf himself saw the merit of these compositions immediately, noting to friends they were the best things he had yet composed. Tenor Ferdinand Jäger, whom Wolf had heard in Parsifal, became a champion of his music, performing a recital of only Wolf and Beethoven in December 1888. His works were praised in reviews, including one in the Münchener Allgemeine Zeitung. However, Brahms's adherents, still smarting from Wolf's merciless reviews, returned the favor; Brahms's biographer Max Kalbeck ridiculed Wolf for his immature writing and odd tonalities, and another composer refused to share a program with him. Only a few more settings, completing the first half of the Italienisches Liederbuch, were composed in 1891 before Wolf's mental and physical health took a downturn from exhaustion, syphilis, and his depressive temperament, stopping composition for several years. Continuing concerts of his works in Austria and Germany spread his growing fame; even Brahmsian critics who had previously reviled Wolf gave favorable reviews. His opera Der Corregidor, based on The Three-Cornered Hat by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, was completed in nine months and initially met with success, but the weakness of the text doomed it to failure. A renewal of creative activity resulted in completion of the Italienisches Liederbuch with two dozen songs written in March and April 1896, and three Michelangelo Lieder in March 1897.
Did You Know?
- Wolf was baptized as Hugo Philip. Jacob. Wolf, son of Filip Wolf and Katharina (née Nußbaumer) Wolf.
- Herbert von Karajan was related to Wolf on his maternal side.
- Wolf's song 'Zur Ruh, zur Ruh' was composed shortly after Wagner's death in February 1883 and is considered the best of his early works, speculated to be an elegy for Wagner.
- Wolf completed the one-movement Italian Serenade for string quartet shortly before his father's death in 1887.
- Wolf's last composition was written in 1898 before he suffered a mental collapse caused by syphilis.
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