Classical Music | Baritone

Recorded on 07/01/2010, uploaded on 10/23/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Between 1890 and 1896, Hugo Wolf produced the forty-six songs that make up his Italienisches Liederbuch (Italian Songbook). The first twenty-two were composed between September 1890 and December 1891, and make up Volume I of the collection. They were published in 1892. Volume II, consisting of the remaining twenty-four songs, was composed in 1896. Despite this lengthy hiatus between the two volumes, Wolf managed to achieve a remarkably unified style across the entire collection. In part, this was due to the nature of the texts. Wolf selected the poems to set to music, which except for one were all love poems in some fashion, from a collection of anonymous Italian poetry translated into German by Paul Heyse, who also translated many of the poems in his Spanisches Liederbuch.

“Ihr seid die Allerschönste” (“You are the most beautiful”) is the third song of Volume I. A simple poem of eight lines, the unknown poet here declares that his beloved his more beautiful than the flowers in May, and that even the ornate, wondrous cathedrals of Italy do not compare to her “charm and grace.” A fervent accompaniment of rippling arpeggios, in the left hand of the piano, underpins the affectionate anonymous lyrics in Wolf’s setting, while the right hand provides an equally passionate dactylic rhythm that at times coincides with the amorous vocal melody, but at others fills the role of countermelody. Though the first four lines build to a passionate forte, the latter half of the poem begins piano, and the final line is rendered with an almost religious adoration as the arpeggios suddenly give way to sustained chords. As the vocal melody comes to an end, the piano provides one last swell of love-filled emotion, before bringing the song to a quiet close.    Joseph DuBose

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.