Editing Hugo Wolf (section)

=== Early life (1860–1887) ===
Hugo Wolf was born in [[Windischgraz|Windischgrätz]] in the [[Duchy of Styria]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Geburts- und Tauf-Buch |date=1857–1879 |page=15 |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/maribor/slovenj-gradec/02547/?pg=15 |access-date=April 20, 2024}}</ref> (now [[Slovenj Gradec]], [[Slovenia]]), then a part of the [[Austrian Empire]]. [[Herbert von Karajan]] was related to him on his maternal side.<ref name="KarajanFamily">{{cite web
   |url        = http://www.karajan.co.uk/family.html
   |title        = Herbert Von Karajan-Karajan Family
   |publisher        = Karajan Family
   |access-date        = 14 March 2012
   |archive-date        = 26 February 2012
   |archive-url        = https://web.archive.org/web/20120226030037/http://www.karajan.co.uk/family.html
   |url-status        = dead
   }}</ref><ref name="Lapajne2008">{{cite web |url=http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2500 |title=The Shared Slovenian Ancestors of Herbert von Karajan and Hugo Wolf |date=4 April 2008 |access-date=5 May 2008 |author=Branka Lapajne}}</ref> He spent most of his life in [[Vienna]], becoming a representative of a "New German" trend in [[Lieder]], a trend which followed from the expressive, [[chromatic scale|chromatic]] and dramatic musical innovations of [[Richard Wagner]].

A [[child prodigy]], Wolf was taught [[piano]] and [[violin]] by his father beginning at the age of four, and once in primary school studied piano and [[music theory]] with Sebastian Weixler. Subjects other than music failed to hold his interest; he was dismissed from the first secondary school he attended as being "wholly inadequate", left another over his difficulties in the compulsory Latin studies, and after a falling-out with a professor who commented on his "damned music", quit the last. From there, he went to the [[University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna|Vienna Conservatory]], much to the disappointment of his father, who had hoped his son would not try to make his living from music. Once again, however, he was dismissed after two years<ref>{{Cite book |last=Illing |first=Robert |title=Pergamon Dictionary of Musicians and Music |publisher=Pergamon Press |year=1963 |volume=1: Musicians |location=Oxford |pages=130}}</ref> for "breach of discipline", although the oft-rebellious Wolf would claim he quit in frustration over the school's conservatism.

After eight months with his family, he returned to Vienna to teach music. Though his fiery temperament was not ideally suited to teaching, Wolf's musical gifts, as well as his personal charm, earned him attention and patronage. Support of benefactors allowed him to make a living as a composer, and a daughter of one of his greatest benefactors inspired him to write to Vally ("Valentine") Franck, his first love, with whom he was involved for three years. During their relationship, hints of his mature style would become evident in his Lieder. Wolf was prone to depression and wide mood swings, which would affect him all through his life. When Franck left him just before his 21st birthday, he was despondent. He returned home, although his family relationships were also strained; his father was still convinced his son was a ne'er-do-well. His brief and undistinguished tenure as second [[Kapellmeister]] at [[Salzburg]] only reinforced this opinion: Wolf had neither the temperament, the conducting technique nor the affinity for the decidedly non-Wagnerian repertoire to be successful, and within a year had again returned to Vienna to teach in much the same circumstances as before.

[[File:Postcard-1910 Hugo Wolf.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Hugo Wolf (1885)]]

Wagner's death in February 1883 was another deeply moving event in the life of the young composer. The song "Zur Ruh, zur Ruh" was composed shortly afterward and is considered to be the best of his early works; it is speculated that it was intended as an elegy for Wagner. Wolf often despaired of his own future in the ensuing years, in a world from which his idol had departed, leaving tremendous footsteps to follow and no guidance on how to do so. This left him often extremely temperamental, alienating friends and patrons, although his charm helped him retain them more than his actions merited. His songs had meanwhile caught the attention of [[Franz Liszt]], whom he respected greatly, and who like Wolf's previous mentors advised him to pursue larger forms; advice he this time followed with the symphonic tone poem ''Penthesilea''. His activities as a critic began to pick up. He was merciless in his criticism of the inferior works he saw taking over the musical atmosphere of the time;<ref>Andreas Dorschel, 'Arbeit am Kanon. Zu Hugo Wolfs Musikkritiken', in ''Musicologica Austriaca'' XXVI (2007), pp. 43-52.</ref> those of [[Anton Rubinstein]] he considered particularly odious. But he was as fervent in his support of Liszt, [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] and [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], whose genius he recognized. Known as "Wild Wolf" for the intensity and expressive strength of his convictions, his vitriol made him some enemies. He composed little during this time, and what he did write he couldn't get performed; the [[Rosé Quartet]] (led by Vienna Philharmonic concertmaster Arnold Rosé) would not even look at his D minor Quartet after it was picked apart in a column, and the premiere of ''Penthesilea'' was met by the Vienna Philharmonic, when they tried it out under their celebrated conservative conductor Hans Richter, with nothing but derision for 'the man who had dared to criticize "Meister Brahms"', as Richter himself caustically put it.

He abandoned his activities as a critic in 1887 and began composing once more; perhaps not unexpectedly, the first songs he wrote after his compositional hiatus (to poems by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], [[Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff|Joseph von Eichendorff]] and [[Joseph Viktor von Scheffel]]) emphasized themes of strength and resolution under adversity. Shortly thereafter, he completed the terse, witty one-movement ''[[Italian Serenade (Wolf)|Italian Serenade]]'' for string quartet which is regarded as one of the finest examples of his mature instrumental compositional style. Only a week later his father died, leaving him devastated, and he did not compose for the remainder of the year.