The Songs of Hugo Wolf

With a foreword by the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore, Eric Sams' study (Faber 1961, revised 1983) is a notable landmark in the establishment of Wolf as one of the supreme masters of German song. Comprehensively revised and enlarged in 1983, the main subject matter remains the 242 published songs that Wolf wrote for voice and piano, though the Ibsen songs for voice and orchestra are also discussed. English translations are provided and the backgrounds to the original poems by Morike, Eichendorff and Goethe, as well as the Italian and Spanish sources from which the songbooks were drawn, are fully explored. Each song is dated, its keys identified and vocal range determined. 'This is the most important book in the English language on the songs of Hugo Wolf since Ernest Newman proclaimed the composer's genius in 1907 . . . To the English-speaking student this work is a treasure to which he will find himself returning again and again: it is indispensable to those of us anxious to gain a deeper knowledge of Wolf.' Gerald Moore

Eric Sams (1926-2004) was exceptional both as a musicologist, specialising in German lieder, and as a Shakespeare scholar. His fascination with lieder was first inspired by hearing recordings of Hugo Wolf songs in the collection of one of his schoolmasters. He had an exceptional gift for quoting at length the texts of almost of any verse, including the complete works of Shakespeare. He studied modern languages at Cambridge and then joined the Civil Service. He became a highly respected music critic, with a witty and allusive style, reviewing regularly for, among others, the Times Literary Supplement. He wrote several books, and specialized in the relationship between music and language, particularly the text settings of the Romantic song composers.