''Italienisches Liederbuch'' (English: Italian songbook) is a collection of 46 Lieder (songs for voice and piano) by Hugo Wolf (18601903). The first 22 songs (Book 1) were composed between September 1890 and December 1891, and published in 1892. The other 24 songs (Book 2) were composed between March and August 1896, and published the same year. The time lag between the two volumes was caused by Wolf's long-proposed opera, ''

Der Corregidor ''Der Corregidor'' is a comic opera by Hugo Wolf. The German libretto was written by Rosa Mayreder-Obermayer, based on the short novel '' El sombrero de tres picos'' by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón. History Wolf composed the opera in 1895 and revis ...

'' (1895), which might have been inspired by his personal love triangle with his friend’s wife Melanie Köchert. The 46 lyrics of the songs were taken from an anthology of Italian poems by

Paul Heyse Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (; 15 March 1830 – 2 April 1914) was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the '' Tunnel über der Spree'' in Berlin and ''Die Krokodile'' in Munich, he wrote n ...

(18301914), translated into German and published with the title of '' Italienisches Liederbuch'' in 1860. Despite Heyse’s diverse poetic selections, Wolf preferred the ''rispetto'', a short Italian verse usually consisting of eight lines of ten or eleven syllables each, as a result of which the songs are short.

Description

It is usually performed by alternating baritone and soprano singers, as (for example) in the recording of

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...

(baritone),

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...

(soprano), and

Gerald Moore Gerald Moore CBE (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an English classical pianist best known for his career as a collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. Among those with whom he was closely associated were Dietrich Fischer-Di ...

(accompanist). In the lyrics, the male in love tends to idealize his lover and praise her beauty, while the female shows practical ideas about love and sometimes has complaints against her lover.

The poems

The German texts and some translations are available online at

The LiederNet Archive The LiederNet Archive (formerly The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive) is a donation-supported web archive of art song and choral texts founded in 1995 by Emily Ezust, an American/Canadian computer programmer and amateur violinist. The websi ...

. The poems are listed below: ; Book 1 # "''Auch kleine Dinge''" # "''Mir ward gesagt, du reisest in die Ferne''" # "''Ihr seid die Allerschönste''" # "''Gesegnet sei, durch den die Welt entstund''" # "''Selig ihr Blinden''" # "''Wer rief dich denn?''" # "''Der Mond hat eine schwere Klag' erhoben''" # "''Nun laß uns Frieden schließen''" # "''Daß doch gemalt all' deine Reize wären''" # "''Du denkst mit einem Fädchen''" # "''Wie lange schon war immer mein Verlangen''" # "''Nein, junger Herr''" # "''Hoffärtig seid Ihr, schönes Kind''" # "''Geselle, woll'n wir uns in Kutten hüllen''" # "''Mein Liebster ist so klein''" # "''Ihr jungen Leute''" # "''Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen''" # "''Heb' auf dein blondes Haupt''" # "''Wir haben beide''" # "''Mein Liebster singt''" # "''Man sagt mir, deine Mutter woll' es nicht''" # "''Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen''" ; Book 2 # "''Was für ein Lied soll dir gesungen werden''" # "''Ich esse nun mein Brot nicht trocken mehr''" # "''Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen''" # "''Ich ließ mir sagen''" # "''Schon streckt' ich aus im Bett die müden Glieder''" # "''Du sagst mir daß ich keine Fürstin sei''" # "''Wohl kenn' ich Euren Stand''" # "''Laß sie nur geh'n''" # "''Wie soll ich fröhlich sein''" # "''Was soll der Zorn''" # "''Sterb' ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder''" # "''Und steht Ihr früh am Morgen auf''" # "''Benedeit die sel'ge Mutter''" # "''Wenn du, mein Liebster, steigst zum Himmel auf''" # "''Wie viele Zeit verlor' ich''" # "''Wenn du mich mit den Augen streifst''" # "''Gesegnet sei das Grün''" # "''O wär' dein Haus durchsichtig wie ein Glas''" # "''Heut' Nacht erhob ich mich um Mitternacht''" # "''Nicht länger kann ich singen''" # "''Schweig' einmal still''" # "''O wüßtest du, wie viel ich deinetwegen''" # "''Verschling' der Abgrund''" # "''Ich hab' in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen''"

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Hugo Wolf 1892 compositions 1896 compositions Classical song cycles in German Lieder Musical settings of poems by Paul Heyse