With a foreword by the legendary accompanist Gerald Moore Eric Sams study (Faber 1961 revised 1983) is a notable landmark in the establishment of Wolf as one of the supreme masters of German song. Comprehensively revised & enlarged in 1983 the main subject matter remains the 242 published songs that Wolf wrote for voice & piano though the Ibsen songs for voice & orchestra are also discussed. English translations are provided & the backgrounds to the original poems by Morike Eichendorff & Goethe as well as the Italian & Spanish sources from which the songbooks were drawn are fully explored. Each song is dated its keys identified & vocal range determined. This is the most important book in the English language on the songs of Hugo Wolf since Ernest Newman proclaimed the composers genius in 1907.. . To the English-speaking student this work is a treasure to which he will find himself returning again & again: it is indispensable to those of us anxious to gain a deeper knowledge of Wolf
- Gerald Moore.