Hugo Wolf - Michelangelo Lieder Nr. 3 of 3

On September 20, 1897 Hugo Wolf was taken to Dr. Svetlins sanatorium in Vienna, and on February 22, 1903, he died there, insane, at the age of only 43. The last songs he wrote in March 1897, were the three Michelangelo Lieder. The settings of German translations by Robert-Tornow of the original poems of Michelangelo are for low voice. It goes without saying that the sculptor must sing bass, Wolf remarked. These are verses of retrospection, old age and resignation, with a streak of the pessimism of the ancients, contemplating the inevitable. The last of the three songs, “Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht“, has the effect of a farewell and of a personal confession; its austere setting of words of love brightens from E minor to E major, and seems to look back to the feelings and sorrows of the “Peregrina“ songs (Mörike). It was to remain Wolf’s final completed composition. Above from program notes by Karl Schumann Fühlt meine Seele