Erich J. Wolff
*19 April 1968
Works by Erich J. Wolff
Biography
Erich J. Wolff (1874-1913)
The Jewish-born Austrian composer Erich J.(acques) Wolff was born Jakob Wolff in Vienna on 3 December 1874, making him a contemporary of Arnold Schönberg and a member of the generation of Ravel, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, as well as Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt and Rainer Maria Rilke. He changed his first name from Jakob to Erich J., probably out of experience with the not always easy situation for Jews in Vienna. He then generally abbreviated his middle name Jacques (the French version of Jakob) to J. He died very early on 20 March 1913 of an ear infection in New York during a concert tour in the USA.
Education
He studied piano at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna with Czerny's pupil Anton Door and composition with Robert Fuchs, the so-called "Serenade-Fuchs" because of his beautiful orchestral serenades, who had already taught Gustav Mahler the craft, but was also to teach Zemlinsky, Schreker, Sibelius and Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Robert Stolz.
Impact during his lifetime
According to Engelbert Humperdinck, Erich J. Wolff was perhaps Austria's most important piano accompanist at the beginning of the 20th century.
As a composer, the art song was at the centre of his work with over 150 contributions. He also wrote piano music for two and four hands, chamber music for violin and piano, three melodramas, a large violin concerto and a ballet pantomime, which was premiered posthumously in Prague. According to Peter P. Pachl, he also attempted an opera, although there are no clear sources for this. One thing is certain: he worked with the best German-speaking singers of his time and therefore more than internalised the human voice.
Forever forgotten?
It is artistically incomprehensible that this composer has been all but forgotten. There were times when he was better known abroad than Alexander von Zemlinsky and Arnold Schönberg, with whom he was also friends. But after his early death in the USA, Wolff was quickly forgotten, especially in Europe. In the USA, where well-known singers such as the Dutch soprano Julia Culp and the then MET star Florence Easton still championed him, some of his songs remained in the repertoire until after the Second World War, when they gradually disappeared into oblivion there too.
The reasons for this are certainly not to be found in the quality of his music, which was almost completely published during his lifetime, but on the one hand in the First World War, which broke out shortly after his death, and on the other hand in the lack of descendants or advocates of his work who would have had to stand up for his work. Most of his music is no longer published and can therefore no longer be performed, even with the best will in the world.
The Nazis dealt the final blow to Erich J. Wolff's oblivion: Music by Jewish composers could not be performed in Germany from 1933-45 and then also in Austria from 1938-45. Bad luck and misfortune therefore almost completely erased his name.
The author of these lines intends to change this from April 2024, when his complete song oeuvre, his melodramas and his piano music will gradually be published again on CD [Naxos] and as sheet music [Scodo/UE].
Personal epilogue
The author of these lines is a pianist and has been working since 2022 on the complete recording of all songs with eight different renowned singers on 7 CDs and will also publish them again together with his piano and chamber music in printed music. Working with this repertoire for two years has enabled me to get to know what is probably the most perfect song composer of the early 20th century. This cosmos is an absolute revelation for me and all the singers involved. No other song works by German-speaking composers between 1902 (when his op. 1 appeared) and 1913 are altogether as successful and rewarding as those of Erich J. Wolff. Not even those of H. Pfitzner or Richard Strauss. They perhaps represent the last flowering of the late Romantic lied repertoire.
As a Lied pianist of many years' standing, I know the entire late Romantic repertoire very well and can say with certainty: what a gift to bring this music back into our consciousness and what an honour to be able to make it available to all interested parties again soon.
Klaus Simon—Editor
About the music
Stylistic Aspects
Although Wolff's works were all published throughout his life, he did not write any other successful major works, such as symphonies, which would have brought his fame to a wider audience. His charming piano works also deserve to return to the repertoire.
In his songs (but also in his piano and chamber music), he was able to utilise a wealth of experience as a song accom-panist to generate his own aesthetic and style. Wolff's numerous Wunderhorn songs naturally bring to mind Gustav Mahler's well-known settings. Wolff also struck a similarly marvellous chord with the people and also liked to set dialect texts to music. One encounters Hugo Wolf's harmonic refinements and sophisticated piano treatment as well as the high romanticism of Robert Schumann. Erich J. Wolff also occasionally utilised the entire range of late Romantic harmonies, but without following his contemporary Arnold Schoenberg into atonality. How well he knew Richard Wagner's music can be heard in some of the songs, especially those with daring harmonies. Without his good knowledge of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, some of his harmonic daring would be unthinkable.
Despite these influences, which come into play to a greater or lesser extent in many songs, he has nevertheless developed his own style. He manages to find the right tone for each of the texts he sets to music (from great and well-known poets such as Michelangelo, Goethe, Hölderlin, Storm, Hafis-Daumer, Eichendorff, Keller to contemporaries such as Dehmel, Bierbaum, Liliencron, Baudelaire, Verlaine and many forgotten poets from his time). He has a natural instinct to make each poem a special and unique song. In his best intimate songs, he creates deeply moving melodies that would have made even Richard Strauss or Erich Wolfgang Korngold envious. Moreover, his demanding piano accompaniments are always very pianistic and gratefully written.
Erich J. Wolff
Posthumous works: 62 songs and three melodramas without opus number
Reclassification according to poets, themes and other characteristics
Shortly after his death in 1913, Erich J. Wolff's his 60 songs without opus numbers and his three Pierrot melodramas were published posthumously by Bote & Bock. Unfortunately, in the song edition in three volumes of 20 songs, they were not grouped sensibly at the time, but (perhaps due to time pressure?) simply arranged alphabetically according to the initial letters of the text templates. Bote & Bock had meant well, but they could hardly have done anything more nonsensical and impractical to publish these thematically and stylistically very different songs. We also don't know when these songs were written. We suspect that they may have been composed between 1910 and the beginning of 1913. The composer would certainly have wanted to publish them in meaningful compilations even after his fateful trip to the USA. His death thwarted this endeavour.
Now, 111 years later, this should finally be made up for so that these songs and the three melodramas can be categorised much better in their meaningful context and, of course, they can also be performed in cycles if necessary.
With a clear conscience, I have used various categories to create some order. The order of the resulting new cycles or song sequences are to be regarded as possible suggestions and can of course be changed, whereby the order of the eight Michelangelo songs is very obvious when one considers these perhaps most important and profound songs by Erich J. Wolff.
Erich J. Wolff's songs and his works with opus numbers end with the six songs op. 26 on texts by Jens Peter Jacobsen. Since it can be assumed that Wolff would have continued to use his opus numbers, I will take the liberty of simply continuing his opus numbers. From op. 27 onwards, his posthumous works are now published as opera posthuma.
The two posthumous songs "Mein Meister" NL 61 [Vol. 2] (NL stands for Nachgelassene Lieder) and "Was Du mir gabst" NL 62 [Vol. 5], which Wolff probably wrote in the USA shortly before his death, have been included here for practical reasons.
Denzlingen, April 2024
Klaus Simon – Editor
Erich J. Wolff
opera posthuma
newly organised and compiled by Klaus Simon (2022)
Note: The Nachgelassene Lieder (NL) were presumably written between 1910 and 1913; the last two songs from op. 33 were demonstrably composed in 1913 and had previously only survived as manuscripts.
Drei Melodramen nach Pierrot op. 27 (unbekannter Textdichter) 1910–13?
1. Serenade
2. Intermezzo
3. Finale
Elf Lieder aus „Des Knaben Wunderhorn“ op. 28 1910–13?
1. Ach hartes Herz, laß dich doch eins erweichen c-moll NL 3
2. Der süße Schlaf, der sonst stillt alles wohl Des-Dur NL 14
(2a. als Duett für Sopran und Mezzosopran arrangiert von Klaus Simon 2022) NL 14a
3. Ich bin gen Baden gezogen fis-moll NL 26
4. Die widerspenstige Braut f-moll NL 29
5. Ich wollt’, daß der verhindert mich an meinem Glück F-Dur NL 31
6. Verspätung es-moll NL 40
7. Nach meiner Lieb’ viel 100 Knaben trachten G-Dur NL 41
8. Recht wie ein Leichnam wandre ich umher d-moll NL 44
9. Soll ich denn sterben? d-moll NL 49
10. Wenn ich den ganzen Tag geführet hab meine Klag e-moll NL 55
11. Wer sehen will zween lebendige Brunnen f-moll NL 56
Zehn Lieder im Volkston bzw. nach Volksdichtungen op. 29 1910–13?
a) Weltliche Lieder
1. Traum (Volkslied) d-moll NL 30
2. Maria und der Schiffer (Volkslied) a-moll NL 37
3. Der Trauernde (Dialekt-Volkslied) es-moll NL 39
4. Wer hat's Lieben erdacht (Dialekt-Nikolai/Almanach) F-Dur NL 60
b) Geistliche Lieder
5. Scheiden (Volkslied) E-Dur NL 2
6. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Volkslied) F-Dur NL 19
7. Marienruf (Volkslied) As-Dur NL 36
8. Marie auf dem Berge (Dialekt-Volkslied) f-moll NL 53
9. Es ist ein Schnitter (Volkslied) d-moll NL 20
10. Schönster Herr Jesu! (Volkslied?) D-Dur NL 45
14 Lieder aus dem Hafis von Georg Friedrich Daumer op. 30 1910–13?
1. Ach wie süß, wie süß sie duftet! Fis-Dur NL 4
2. Bittres mir zu sagen, denkst du c-moll NL 9
3. Ein solcher ist mein Freund e-moll NL 17
4. Entzücket dich ein Wunderhauch? Ges-Dur NL 18
5. Es werde Licht d-moll NL 21
6. Horch, hörst Du nicht vom Himmel her? d-moll NL 25
7. Meine Lebenszeit verstreicht es-moll NL 38
8. O hättest Du! D-Dur NL 42
9. O wie süß ein Duft von oben f-moll NL 43
10. Schön wie Thirza bist Du h-moll NL 47
11. Stark wie der Tod ist die Liebe b-moll NL 50
12. Viel bin ich umhergewandert d-moll NL 54
13. Wie Melodie aus reiner Sphäre hör’ ich Es-Dur NL 57
14. Wo ist der Ort, an dem du weilst? fis-moll NL 59
Acht Lieder nach Gedichten von Michelangelo op. 31 (deutsche Textfassung: Heinrich Nelson) 1912
1. Kleinodien, Zierat, Perlen und Korallen F-Dur NL 17
2. Gemahnt dein Name an deine Züge f-moll NL 22 21
3. An dieser Stätte war’s d-moll NL 6 18
4. Bring’ ich der Schönheit die Seele nah D-Dur NL 11 19
5. In schwerer Schuld nur d-moll NL 33 22
6. Da deiner Schönheit Glanz mich hat besiegt Des-Dur NL 12 20
7. Täuscht euch, ihr Augen, nicht c-moll NL 51 23
8. Wie soll den Mut ich finden? es-moll/Es-Dur NL 58 24
Acht Lieder nach Gedichten von Emil Faktor op. 32 1910–13?
1. Der tote Lenz D-Dur NL 13
2. Märchen G-Dur NL 23
3. Frühlingskinder A-Dur NL 24
4. Der Wanderer es-moll NL 28
5. Wüßt’ ich nur F-Dur NL 32
6. Entsagung d-moll NL 34
7. Dir d-moll NL 46
8. Bekenntnis d-moll NL 15
op. 33 Elf Lieder nach Texten verschiedener Dichter 1910–13?
1. Friede (Karl Maria [Wiligut]) F-Dur NL 1
2. Alles still! (Theodor Fontane) f-moll NL 5
3. Die schwarze Laute (Otto Julius Bierbaum) a-moll NL 7
4. Der Tod (Charles Baudelaire, deutsche Textfassung von E. L. Schellenberg) d-moll NL 52
5. Erster Schnee (Christian Morgenstern) D-Dur NL 8
6. Vöglein Schwermut (Christian Morgenstern) g-moll NL 16
7. Venedig (Kurt Kamlah) cis-moll NL 48
8. Das kranke Kind (Kurt Kamlah) f-moll NL 27
9. Im Entschlafen (Kurt Kamlah) Ges-Dur NL 10
10. Mein Meister (Frida Sarsen-Bucky) C-Dur NL 61
11. Was gabst du mir? (Frida Sarsen-Bucky) D-Dur NL 62
op. 34a Zwischenspiel aus Zlaterog 1906
Klavierfassung
