Hugo Wolf composed the forty-six songs of his Italienisches Liederbuch between 1890 and 1896. Wolf selected the poems to set from music from a collection of anonymous Italian poetry translated by Paul Heyse, who also translated many of the poems in the composer’s Spanisches Liederbuch. The first twenty-two songs were composed between September 1890 and December 1891, and comprise Volume I of the collection. These were published the succeeding year. Volume II, consisting of the remaining twenty-four songs, however, was composed after a lengthy hiatus in 1896. Despite the four-year gap between the two volumes, Wolf managed to achieve a remarkably unified style across the entire collection, in large part due to the amorous nature of virtually the entire collection.
“Geselle, woll’n wir uns in Kutten hüllen” (“Friend, shall we wrap ourselves in cloaks”), the fourteenth song of Volume I, is one of two that incorporates a religious element. The poet speaks to his friend of forsaking the world to become priests. He imagines their journey of going door to door until they come to a home with a sick child, at which point he implores that they are allowed to enter to hear the child’s last confessions. In D major, Wolf represents the poet and his priestly aspirations not with religious piety, but with a dotted-eighth motif, heard in the bass, that leaves its own seriousness in question, and paints the musings of the poet as simply that. To musically distinguish the four lines of dialogue presumably spoken by some wary homeowner, Wolf omits the priests’ motif, and the piano provides instead a tenuously chromatic, chordal accompaniment that, within its short span, passes through several different keys. The bass motif returns as the priest makes his supplication to hear the poor child’s confessions, after which the music fades away slowly to end on a quiet D major chord.Joseph DUBose
Classical Music | Baritone
Hugo Wolf
Geselle, woll’n wir uns in Kutten hüllen, from the Italienisches Liederbuch Play
Recorded on 07/01/2010, uploaded on 10/24/2011
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Hugo Wolf composed the forty-six songs of his Italienisches Liederbuch between 1890 and 1896. Wolf selected the poems to set from music from a collection of anonymous Italian poetry translated by Paul Heyse, who also translated many of the poems in the composer’s Spanisches Liederbuch. The first twenty-two songs were composed between September 1890 and December 1891, and comprise Volume I of the collection. These were published the succeeding year. Volume II, consisting of the remaining twenty-four songs, however, was composed after a lengthy hiatus in 1896. Despite the four-year gap between the two volumes, Wolf managed to achieve a remarkably unified style across the entire collection, in large part due to the amorous nature of virtually the entire collection.
“Geselle, woll’n wir uns in Kutten hüllen” (“Friend, shall we wrap ourselves in cloaks”), the fourteenth song of Volume I, is one of two that incorporates a religious element. The poet speaks to his friend of forsaking the world to become priests. He imagines their journey of going door to door until they come to a home with a sick child, at which point he implores that they are allowed to enter to hear the child’s last confessions. In D major, Wolf represents the poet and his priestly aspirations not with religious piety, but with a dotted-eighth motif, heard in the bass, that leaves its own seriousness in question, and paints the musings of the poet as simply that. To musically distinguish the four lines of dialogue presumably spoken by some wary homeowner, Wolf omits the priests’ motif, and the piano provides instead a tenuously chromatic, chordal accompaniment that, within its short span, passes through several different keys. The bass motif returns as the priest makes his supplication to hear the poor child’s confessions, after which the music fades away slowly to end on a quiet D major chord. Joseph DUBose
More music by Hugo Wolf
Elfenlied, from Gedichte von Eduard Morike
Das Köhlerweib ist trunken
Wohl denk ich oft, from Drei Gedichte von Michelangelo
Alles endet, was entstehet, 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)
Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Dass doch gemalt all deine Reize wären, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Benedeit, die sel’ge Mutter, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Ihr seid die Allerschönste, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen kam ich her, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
Sterb ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder, from the Italienisches Liederbuch
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