Type: Book

"For me the sovereign principle in art is rigorous, harsh and inexorable truth, truth to the point of cruelty."
-Hugo Wolf

Although Wolf composed in other forms, his fame rests almost entirely on his songs. Highly original, intuitive, intensely dramatic, Wolf's musical interpretations perfectly matched Morike's complex, quasi-symbolic style. In addition to a superb awareness of verbal rhythm and vocal inflections, Wolf also brought a delicacy of psychological insight to his compositions that made the song "a reincarnation of the poem in another medium."

The present volume contains all 53 of the Mörike songs, Wolf's complete treatment of the poet, reproduced from the 2nd revised Heckel edition. Stanley Appelbaum has provided new literal prose translations of the lyrics, as well as alphabetical lists of song titles and openings, and a glossary of German musical terms.

Songs Include:

Der Genesene an die Hoffnung	Im Frühling	Lebe wohl
Der Tambour	Auf ein altes Bild	Der Jäger
Fussreise	Charwoche	Der Feuerreiter
Verborgenheit	Neue Liebe	Gesang Weyla's
Elfenlied	Frage and Antwort	Auftrag

... and 38 more

Wolf's lieder rank at the very summit of the genre. As the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians notes: "He intensified the expressive vocabulary of the lied to a pitch never since surpassed. By his musical sensitivity to poetic values and meanings which he embodied in each separate aspect of song . . . he was able, like Schubert before him, to condense the dramatic intensity of opera into the song form."

Lovers of lieder have long sought a convenient, comprehensive, inexpensive edition of all 53 Morike songs. They will find it here, in a sturdily bound, clearly reproduced, permanent volume -a fitting tribute to Wolf's status as a supreme master of the art song.

Enlarged republication of Gedichte von Eduard Mörike fur eine Singstimme und Klavier componirt (1888) von Hugo Wolf, K. Ferd. Heckel, Mannheim, n.d. New literal prose translations, lists of song titles and openings, glossary. Portrait of Morike. 208pp. 9 3/8 x 12 1/4. Paperbound.