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.
Closing the set is “Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht” (“Is my soul feeling the longed for light”). Faced with uncertainty, the poet struggles in the two quatrains of Michelangelo’s sonnet to find the answers he seeks, turning first to God, but then wondering if it is a dream that has the power to bring him to tears. Contentedly in the final tercet, he reveals both the impetus that has troubled his heart, and the source from which the answers he seeks will come—his mistress, whose captive he has been since first seeing her. Wolf’s remarkable setting begins with a descending chromatic motif in the right hand of the piano, set against an ascending and syncopated bass, which then becomes the central idea of the song. The unsettled harmony of this introduction and the E minor tonality perfectly reflect the troubled heart of the poet. In the fourth measure, the vocal melody enters, at first melancholy but soon becomes increasing agitated. The piano follows suit, and provides an accompaniment of equal interest and importance as the vocalist’s rendering of the text. Persistently, like the poet in his search for answers, the song builds to its resolution on the final two lines of text, where the minor tonality ultimately gives way to E major. On the final line, when the poet names his mistress, the active piano accompaniment suddenly subsides into a remarkably expressive passage of simple diatonic harmony underpinning the equally affectionate vocal melody.Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Bass
Hugo Wolf
Fühlt meine Seele, 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.
Closing the set is “Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht” (“Is my soul feeling the longed for light”). Faced with uncertainty, the poet struggles in the two quatrains of Michelangelo’s sonnet to find the answers he seeks, turning first to God, but then wondering if it is a dream that has the power to bring him to tears. Contentedly in the final tercet, he reveals both the impetus that has troubled his heart, and the source from which the answers he seeks will come—his mistress, whose captive he has been since first seeing her. Wolf’s remarkable setting begins with a descending chromatic motif in the right hand of the piano, set against an ascending and syncopated bass, which then becomes the central idea of the song. The unsettled harmony of this introduction and the E minor tonality perfectly reflect the troubled heart of the poet. In the fourth measure, the vocal melody enters, at first melancholy but soon becomes increasing agitated. The piano follows suit, and provides an accompaniment of equal interest and importance as the vocalist’s rendering of the text. Persistently, like the poet in his search for answers, the song builds to its resolution on the final two lines of text, where the minor tonality ultimately gives way to E major. On the final line, when the poet names his mistress, the active piano accompaniment suddenly subsides into a remarkably expressive passage of simple diatonic harmony underpinning the equally affectionate vocal melody. 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
Alles endet, was entstehet, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Neue Liebe
Lebe wohl
Die Spröde
Als ich auf dem Euphrat schiffte
Performances by same musician(s)
Alles endet, was entstehet, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Wohl denk ich oft, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
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