Hugo Wolf. Autograph manuscript of the song 'Geselle, woll'n wir uns in Kutten hüllen', from the "Italienisches Liederbuch", 1891-1892

Hugo Wolf

Autograph manuscript of the song 'Geselle, woll’n wir uns in Kutten hüllen', from the Italienisches Liederbuch, for voice and piano, signed ("Hugo Wolf")

A FINE FAIR-COPY MANUSCRIPT, the Stichvorlage, notated in dark brown ink on four three-stave systems per page, with autograph title ("Italienisches Liederbuch") and autograph note at the foot of the first page ("Abkürzungen sind vollständig auszuführen"), marked up in pencil and blue crayon (including some additions and alterations) by and for the printer, one system extended into the margin by the composer, the numbering of the song at the head of the manuscript changed from "13" to "14"

3 pages, large folio (34.3 x 26.2cm), 12-stave paper ("J.E. & C.^o...N.^o 2"), modern cloth folder, no place or date [1891-1892], horizontal folds, some smudges consistent with use by the printer

A COMPLETE SONG FROM THE GREAT, LATE COLLECTION, THE ITALIENISCHES LIEDERBUCH.

This song was written in Döbling on 5 December 1891, during a period of intense activity for Wolf. He had written two songs for the Italiensisches Liederbuch on the previous day. Setting anonymous Italian poems translated by Paul Heyse, the songs in this collection were highly thought of by Wolf, who considered them the most original and artistically finished of all the songs he had composed. Of the present song, included in the first volume of the Italian songbook (published in 1892), Frank Walker writes: "…[it] stands somewhat apart from the rest of the Italian volume. It has been aptly described as a scene out of Boccaccio’s Decameron. The appalling cynicism of “die Welt dem lassen, den sie mag ergötzen”, the caricature of the sanctimonious whine of the begging monk, the unctuousness of the proposal to take the sick girl’s “confession”—these show Wolf’s genius for characterization at its best. The song demands, however, an artist of the calibre of a Chaliapin for its interpretation” (Hugo Wolf (London, 1951), p.300).