1. By: Madison Miller

2.  Full name was Hugo Philipp Jakob Wolf.  Wolf was born March 13, 1860 in Windischgraz, Austria (now Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia).  Died February 22, 1903 in Vienna and was buried along with other composers.

3.  Wolf was a child prodigy, he was taught piano and violin by his father starting at age 4.  Studied at The Vienna Conservatory, but he was expelled because he was very moody and had a temper.  Wolf’s dad died in 1887 and he stopped composing for the rest of the year.

4.  Vally Franck was Wolf’s first love and their relationship lasted 3 years.  Wolf also fell in love with his friends wife, they had an affair, but she killed herself because of her unfaithfulness to her husband.  Wolf was never married and had no children.

5.  Wolf wrote hundreds of lieder, 3 operas, incidental music, choral music, rarely heard orchestral, chamber and piano music.  He was best known for his lieder.  Modeled his lieder after Franz Schubert and Robert Schmann  Started writing songs based on poems (by Ibesen, Nikolaus Lenau, J.W. von Goethe and many others) in 1883

6.  Richard Wagner influenced Wolf and was his idol.  Johannes Brahms encouraged Wolf and urged him to broaden his music focus and career.  Wagner’s death was a tragic event in Wolf’s life.

7.  Wolf made his first opera, Corregidor in 1895 ( it was a story by Pedro Antonio de Alacon)  First opera was a failure, it was produced in Mannheim in 1896 and the revised version was produced in Strasbourg in 1896.  2 nd opera, Manual Veneyas, also after Alacon, remained unfinished.

8.  Wolf was diagnosed with Syphilis, at age 18, that was to cripple and kill him  In the repeated relapse of this disease he would enter deep depressions and couldn’t compose.  Died oh Syphilis shortly before turning 43.

9.  One of his most popular pieces http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYMmQlh Qt4

10.  Was put in a mental home in 1897, was temporarily discharged in 1898.  Soon afterward he unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide.  In October 1898 he requested to be placed in an asylum in Vienna.

11.  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic /646494/Hugo-Wolf http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic /646494/Hugo-Wolf  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYMm QlhQt4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYMm QlhQt4