Irmgard Seefried
Irmgard Seefried (October 9, 1919 – November 24,1988) was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera, sacred music, and lieder.
Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in Köngetried, near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian-born parents. She studied at Augsburg University before making her debut in Aachen as the priestess in Verdi’s Aida in 1940. She began to sing leading parts in 1942 by singing the part of Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz in 1942, and the next year she made her debut at Vienna State Opera by singing Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Karl Böhm. From then on, she remained with the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera until her retirement in 1976.
She sang at the Salzburg Festival every year from 1946 to 1964 (except 1955, 1961 and 1962) in operas, concerts and recitals.
One of the outstanding singers to emerge immediately after the Second World War, she was noted for her Mozart and Richard Strauss roles. She left many recordings of oratorio and sacred music by Bach, Mozart, Haydn (including at least four different renditions of the Archangel Gabriel in Die Schöpfung), Brahms, Fauré, Beethoven, Dvořák, Verdi, and Stravinsky.
After retirement, she taught students at Vienna Music Academy and Salzburg Mozarteum. She died at age 69 in Vienna in 1988.
Hugo Wolf
Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (March 13, 1860 – February 22, 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music.
Though he had several bursts of extraordinary productivity, particularly in 1888 and 1889, depression frequently interrupted his creative periods, and his last composition was written in 1898, before he suffered a mental collapse caused by syphilis.
Early life (1860–1887)
Hugo Wolf was born in Windischgrätz in the Duchy of Styria (now Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia), then a part of the Austrian Empire. He spent most of his life in Vienna, becoming a representative of “New German” trend in Lieder, a trend which followed from the expressive, chromatic and dramatic musical innovations of Richard Wagner.
Wolf taught music in Vienna, where he earned attention and patronage. Support of benefactors allowed him to make a living as a composer. Wolf was prone to depression and wide mood swings that would affect him throughout his life.
Wagner’s death in February 1883 was a deeply moving event in the life of the young composer. There was a schism in the musical world of the late 19th century. Musical structure, the limits of chromatic harmony, and program music versus absolute music were the principal areas of contention. The opposing parties crystallized during the 1850s. The conservative circle was centered on Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim, Clara Schumann, and the Leipzig Conservatoire which had been founded by Felix Mendelssohn. Their opponents, the radical progressives in Weimar, were represented by Franz Liszt and the members of the so-called New German School (“Neudeutsche Schule”), and by Richard Wagner. The controversy was German and Central European in origin; musicians from France, Italy, and Russia were only marginally involved. Composers from both sides looked back on Beethoven as their spiritual and artistic hero; the conservatives saw him as an unsurpassable peak, while the progressives as a new beginning in music. Wolf was a devoted follower of Wagner and the new school
Maturity (1888–1896)
1888 and 1889 proved to be very productive years for Wolf and a turning point in his career. After the publication of a dozen of his songs late the preceding year, Wolf once again desired to return to composing. He composed the Mörike-Lieder at a frenzied pace. Later, he composed the Eichendorff-Lieder followed, then the 51 Goethe-Lieder, spilling into 1889. After a summer holiday, Spanisches Liederbuch was begun in October 1889; though Spanish-flavoured compositions were in fashion in the day, Wolf sought out poems that had been neglected by other composers.
A renewal of creative activity resulted in Wolf’s completion of the Italienisches Liederbuch with two dozen songs written in March and April 1896, the composition of three Michelangelo Lieder in March, 1897 (a group of six had been projected) and preliminary work during that year on an opera, Manuel Venegas.
Wolf’s last concert appearance was in February 1897. Shortly thereafter Wolf slipped into syphilitic insanity, with only occasional spells of wellbeing. Wolf died on February 22, 1903.
Music
Wolf’s greatest musical influence was Richard Wagner, who, in an encounter after Wolf first came to the Vienna Conservatory, encouraged the young composer to persist in composing and to attempt larger-scale works, cementing Wolf’s desire to emulate his musical idol. His antipathy to Johannes Brahms was fueled equally by his devotion to Wagner’s musical radicalism and his loathing of Brahms’ musical “conservatism”.
He is best known for his lieder, his temperament and inclination leading him to more intimate, subjective and terse musical utterances.
Wolf wrote hundreds of lieder, three operas, incidental music, choral music, as well as some rarely heard orchestral, chamber and piano music. His most famous instrumental piece is the Italian Serenade (1887), originally for string quartet and later transcribed for orchestra, which marked the beginning of his mature style.