During the 1890s, the effects of syphilis were already beginning to take its toll on Hugo Wolf. Bouts of depression and a dogged determination to compose an opera, coupled with his failing health, troubled the composer greatly, and he consequently went through long spells in which he wrote no new music. However, Wolf was able to muster the energy for a final outburst of creativity beginning 1896. He completed the last songs of his Italianisches-Lieder that year, and the following, composed the three songs of the Michelangelo-Lieder. These settings of poetry by the great Renaissance poet and painter, translated into German by Walter Robert-Turnow, were to be Wolf’s last completed compositions. He continued to compose following the completion of the Michelangelo-Lieder, and during his final days of sanity, he worked frantically on an opera, Manuel Venegas, but completed only sixty pages. At his own request, he was eventually committed to a Vienna asylum after attempting to drown himself.
“Alles endet, was entstehet” (“Everything ends which comes to be”) is the middle song of the set, and is a pensive musing on the mortality of all living things. In C-sharp minor, Wolf’s setting begins with ominous semitones in the bass, which foreshadow the brooding tone of the entire song. The vocal melody, which bears at its start the indication “gedämpft” (“damped”) is characterized throughout by the downward interval of a falling forth, which appears either as a skip or filled out by a dreary stepwise descent. Few exceptions are found—the most poignant being at the final line of the last quatrain and the opening line of the first tercet (“Wie ein Dunst im Windeshauch / Menschen waren wir ja auch”)—where the vocal melody rises through a poignant diminished octave before finding a brief moment of solace in a warm E major. The piano accompaniment is as equally melancholy as the vocal melody. Sustained thirds accompany the opening two lines, which again reappear at the end of the song. Throughout much of the song, the piano either mimics the falling fourth motif or provides an accompaniment based around a quasi-ostinato figure heard near the beginning. The ominous semitones of the opening, now inverted, occupy the last measures of the song before the bleak final measure of a bare open fifths.Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Bass
Hugo Wolf
Alles endet, was entstehet, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo Play
Recorded on 08/09/2009, uploaded on 11/07/2011
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
During the 1890s, the effects of syphilis were already beginning to take its toll on Hugo Wolf. Bouts of depression and a dogged determination to compose an opera, coupled with his failing health, troubled the composer greatly, and he consequently went through long spells in which he wrote no new music. However, Wolf was able to muster the energy for a final outburst of creativity beginning 1896. He completed the last songs of his Italianisches-Lieder that year, and the following, composed the three songs of the Michelangelo-Lieder. These settings of poetry by the great Renaissance poet and painter, translated into German by Walter Robert-Turnow, were to be Wolf’s last completed compositions. He continued to compose following the completion of the Michelangelo-Lieder, and during his final days of sanity, he worked frantically on an opera, Manuel Venegas, but completed only sixty pages. At his own request, he was eventually committed to a Vienna asylum after attempting to drown himself.
“Alles endet, was entstehet” (“Everything ends which comes to be”) is the middle song of the set, and is a pensive musing on the mortality of all living things. In C-sharp minor, Wolf’s setting begins with ominous semitones in the bass, which foreshadow the brooding tone of the entire song. The vocal melody, which bears at its start the indication “gedämpft” (“damped”) is characterized throughout by the downward interval of a falling forth, which appears either as a skip or filled out by a dreary stepwise descent. Few exceptions are found—the most poignant being at the final line of the last quatrain and the opening line of the first tercet (“Wie ein Dunst im Windeshauch / Menschen waren wir ja auch”)—where the vocal melody rises through a poignant diminished octave before finding a brief moment of solace in a warm E major. The piano accompaniment is as equally melancholy as the vocal melody. Sustained thirds accompany the opening two lines, which again reappear at the end of the song. Throughout much of the song, the piano either mimics the falling fourth motif or provides an accompaniment based around a quasi-ostinato figure heard near the beginning. The ominous semitones of the opening, now inverted, occupy the last measures of the song before the bleak final measure of a bare open fifths. Joseph DuBose
More music by Hugo Wolf
Elfenlied, from Gedichte von Eduard Morike
Das Köhlerweib ist trunken
Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen kam ich her, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Wohl denk ich oft, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Italian Serenade in G Major
Fühlt meine Seele, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Neue Liebe
Lebe wohl
Die Spröde
Als ich auf dem Euphrat schiffte
Performances by same musician(s)
Fühlt meine Seele, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Wohl denk ich oft, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
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