This album was recorded in October 2017 at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in the Netherlands.
Composer Biography
Many composers of this generation, including Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, began their careers by exclusively composing songs.
Historical Context
Fin de siècle Vienna was a period of revolution in many fields, including science, psychoanalysis, art, music, and politics, as the capital of a vast empire headed towards collapse before World War I.
Compositional Technique
Hugo Wolf developed a unique relationship between text and music where the melody is often found in the piano accompaniment rather than solely with the singer's line.
Compositional Technique
The late romantic songs on this album, mostly early works for the featured composers (except Wolf), were at the edge of tonality, exploring its infinite possibilities before its eventual breakdown.
Historical Context
Richard Dehmel, a writer whose publication 'Weib und Welt' was considered shocking, was a major influence on composers like Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Alma Mahler, and Zemlinsky.
Composer's Artistic Vision
For Hugo Wolf, the music in his Lieder serves not just to accompany the vocal melody but to express the true meaning of the texts, giving words a meaning beyond themselves.
