Wolf, Hugo Philipp Jakob#

b. Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia (then Windischgraetz), March 13, 1860, d. Vienna, Feb. 22, 1903, composer. Lived in Vienna from 1875, studied at the Vienna Conservatory. Wrote his first songs in 1876 after he had met Richard Wagner, whom he admired greatly. Due to disputes with his teachers W. was expelled from the Conservatory in 1877 and lived henceforth as a music teacher in Vienna. In 1878 he contracted syphilis, which led to mental derangement (lived in a lunatic asylum from 1897) and to his early death. Suffered from serious depressions from 1880, for which even his friends (G. Schoenaich, M. Koechert) could not find a remedy. Every attempt to seek a steady employment for him (as conductor in Salzburg in 1881 and as music critic with the "Wiener Salonblatt") failed due to his emotional problems. From 1887 W. worked as a freelance composer and was supported by his friends and patrons. Next to F. Schubert W. is regarded as one of the most important composers of lieder. In his lieder he puts the stress on the poetic diction; they express great empathy and the treatment of the piano part is largely independent of the vocal part. His highly subjective sensitivity and refined harmony make him a representative of late Romanticism, influenced by R. Wagner, whose style he adopted in his own individual manner both in his orchestral works and operas (although Wagner's output greatly exceeded that of W.). H. W. Association founded in Vienna in 1897. The International H. W. Society, founded in 1958, is responsible for the critical complete edition of his works. His house at Perchtoldsdorf accommodates a museum with his study, which is virtually unchanged.

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