Fifty Songs by Hugo Wolf

Résumé du livre

From the introductory.
"Mr. Ernest Newman's elaborate monograph on Hugo Wolf is divided into two parts, the first dealing with his life, and the second with his works. The former makes of necessity very painful reading. Hugo Wolf, who was the son of an unsuccessful Styrian leather-merchant, was denied the qualities which make either for success or content. His school life was unhappy, he was dismissed from the Vienna Conservatoire for insubordination, and his temperament rendered it absolutely impossible for him to make a livelihood by teaching, hack-work, or musical criticism.... Mr. Newman's elaborate analysis of the songs, operas, and other compositions of Hugo Wolf is based on an intimate acquaintance with the scores which is only possible in a thoroughly accomplished musician.
"From his estimate of Wolf as the foremost song-writer of all time it is possible to dissent energetically; but there is no gainsaying the ability and enthusiasm with which he supports his claim. He is an uncompromising but a convinced partisan.
-- The Spectator.
"Mr. Newman is one of the most ardent of Wolf's admirers and his book is by far the most comprehensive biography of the man and study of his art that has appeared in English. It is also the ablest and best, although it must be recognized that Mr. Newman's position is to a considerable degree that of a special pleader."
-- The N. Y. Times.