Detailed Analysis: Hugo Wolf's Songs, Narrative, and Lyricism Examined

This report provides a detailed analysis of Hugo Wolf's music, focusing on the narrative and lyricism present in his songs. The analysis centers on two primary examples: 'Begegnung' and 'In Dem Schatten Menier Locken', exploring how Wolf employs various musical techniques, including transformation of tonic function, plagal substitution, dominant replacement, thematic repetition, harmonic relation, progressive tonality, and mono tonality. The report delves into the limitations within the plagal domain and examines the trading and innovation within Wolf's compositions, referencing the poem 'Grenzen der Menschheit' to illustrate the composer's approach to integrating text and music. It discusses the evolution of solo vocal settings with piano accompaniment and the impact of composers like Schubert and Mahler on Wolf's style. The analysis covers the poem's themes of humanity's limits and the interplay between man and the divine, offering a comprehensive overview of Wolf's musical artistry.

NARRATIVE
AND
LYRICISM OF THE
MUSIC

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS OF BEGEGNUNG......................................................................................................1
Limitation within the Plagal Domain..........................................................................................3
ANALYSIS OF IN DEM SCHATTEN MENIER LOCKEN.........................................................3
The trading and innovation Of the songs of Hugo Wolf.................................................................5
Evaluation on the poem of “Grenzen der Menschheit”..............................................................5
The summery on the poem as “ Alles endet, was entstehet”......................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Songs refers to short poem or group of words which is presented in a musical manner. It
includes uses of various words which create magical meaning and also provide some special
effect. This report describes the two style of music such as Opera and plagal music which was
adopted by the Hugo Wolf in their songs (Kumar and Hegde, 2016). The main aim of the study
to analysis the song and its style which make some specific effects. It also explains the harmonic
and tonic function which is useful to make song more attractive. By taking four examples, which
was created by Hugo Wolf, it present musical transformation in this report. It also explain the
musical effects which are used by the Hugo Wolf which attract the listeners in a great extent. In
addition this report is the inclusive of the two other in which one is defining the subject matter
relate to the action of human with the god and other one is explaining about the music that is
never ending process. The life can be end but the life of the music can be never end.
ANALYSIS OF BEGEGNUNG
The song Begegnung is a which contain various kinds of plagal ambiguity inside it. This
song is sung by Hugo Wolf, which was an Austrian composer (Castellengo and Bernardoni,
2014). He was famous for his uniqueness which contains several emotions like romantic music,
extraordinary productivity etc. This song is related with the poem which describes the condition
of lovers who meet with each other after a stormy night. Each line in this song, refers the magical
changes in poetic metaphor and transforms in a simple lover's situation. The first stanza of this
song presents the mystery night with full of freshness in which lovers "Begegnung" meet each
other. The girl is Timid and boy delighted with youthful embarrassment. Last stanza of the song
denotes the uncertainty which was presented by taking the example of erotic dreams and storm.
The main aim of the poem is related to the story of a boy and girl who are in love with each
other. Here, the last stanza represents the boy with heavy storm and girl with youthful fantasy
(Huang, Zhang, Xiang and Fang, 2017). Hence, the whole song is imaginary which present the
girl and boy as a symbol of sexual uncertainty and heavy storm by using some mysterious
effects. This song consists of various features, which are as follows:
Transformation of tonic function: Begegnung is design as a transformation of tonic
function which present its effect in first and second stanzas. The first stanza shows the hidden
ambiguity which is full of doubt in the progression stage (Castellengo and Bernardoni, 2014). It
1

includes various kind of harmonic function from I to IV which is covered in radical
transformation. It also presents the shift of minor to major mode which is merely innocuous. This
song shows the musical effect that how the poem explains the ambiguity. It also presents that
transformation of tonic function always contain some degree of harmony obscurity which is used
for making a harmonic relationship. The different sound of the music instrument gives different
meaning. Each sound has its own relaxtion.There are various kinds of factors which make great
contribution. For example: It include strophic nature which make confusion between first and
second stanza. At last, this song presents the dramatic impression to the listeners (Castellengo
and Bernardoni, 2014).
Plagal substitution: It includes the creativity which are used by the Hugo Wolf in their
first half song and uses harmonic ambiguity to present the mystery with transformation of tonic
function. Writer makes some resolution by using plagal substitution. While using plagal
exchange song turns with enharmonic link between two plagal areas. Hence, it can be said that
variation of plagal in this song make magical changes which create interest to the listeners by
using different art while making the song (Gibson, 2016).
Dominant Replacement: In this some, dominant replacement occurs in last two stanza
which create the final tonic transformation. It represents the fantasy by creating appearance of
girl as a dream of the boy. Here, boy is referring to as a dreamer because his role in this song is
related by making plagal relationship. Hence, the use of dominant replacement is taken with two
example such as boy as a reality with fantasy and girl as a storm. By analysing the musical style,
replacement can be involved by having different degrees of foreground and middle-ground level.
Limitation within the Plagal Domain
By analysing the whole song, there are some limitation arrived with regards to use of
dominant replacement and plagal axis by the Hugo Wolf. Starting of poem represent the plagal
domain as a highly tentative and conservative. It is difficult to examine either Wolf control the
domain replacement and plagal axis with less interest. It also arises some formal difficulty which
is related to the harmonic structure of the song. It will create a proper utilization of plagal
structure by making innovation in harmonic (Castellengo and Bernardoni, 2014).
2

ANALYSIS OF IN DEM SCHATTEN MENIER LOCKEN
This song presents the changes in sequence of time and mood which is related with the
past conflicts of a person. It describes the relationship of lovers. By taking an example of young
women and sleeping man, it explains the conflicts or confusion which lady face. It also explains
the strong relation with each other (Chen, Xu, Liu, Liu, Zhang, Ma and Ai, 2016). In this song, a
lady was sitting with her lover in a wind. Her lover was sleeping and due to high wind, her hair
was shredding. She also faces the conflict and does not make any decision whether to awake his
lover or not. Whole songs are mainly focus on three concepts, these are:
 Strong relationship of lady with her lover.
 Lady does not in position to decide whether she awake her lover or not.
 She also found the conflicts between her lover and wind which blow her hair.
Hence, this song contains various meaning which are expressed with the use of music. By using
various instruments it will create a dramatic presentation of situation which highly influence the
listeners in a large manner. It presents the various effects which are used by the Hugo Wolf, such
as:
Thematic Repetition: It is a kind of musical techniques which are create using
permutation, transposition and modulation. It is a process which was developed by the Franz
Liszt and Hector Berlioz which denotes the one variation in the one song. Thematic repetition
involved the changes in melodies by using colourful effects which is suitable for the romantic
environment (Castellengo and Bernardoni, 2014). It is used by the Hugo Wolf to present the
song dramatically by which he can attract the listeners. For example: This poem includes the
repetition of lines such as conflicts of her mind and lover which shows dramatically in this song.
Harmonic Relation: It refers to the notes which are used in a music for special way. It is
created as a a part of harmonic series. It could be plays with use of violin because strings in a
violin are vibrate in a fast speed. The harmonic relation is best in giving rest to the stress of the
mind. Hugo Wolf need to play harmonics on their instrument which make music more attractive.
For example: Flowing winds are expressed with the use of harmonics. In this, singer play violin
to express the speed of winds to make magical effect in the music (Gibson, 2016).
3

Progressive Tonality: It is a musical compositional practice which is used to avoid the
misunderstanding and stress. By making this effect, Hugo Wolf use the Piano which shows the
stress of lady in this song. From the given song, lady is confused to awake their lover or not. It
also presents her position in which she does not make any decision to face the wind problem
which shredding her hair with comb. Whole song is presented by the Wolf in a dramatic manner
by adopting various musical effects so that he can express the feelings of character in the song
effectively.
Mono tonality: It describes the one tonality by one triad in the song. It represents the third
effect or relation which make negative impact on the situation. As per the given song, young lady
and her lover were spending their time. Suddenly a high wind was blowing and it will create
difficulty of lady and her lover that her hair was shredding. This term is the imaginary which is
describing the rel;ation between both of them. This situation can be represented by the Hugo
Wolf through Guitar and other instruments (Arifianto and Pratiwi, 2016).
THE TRADING AND INNOVATION OF THE SONGS OF HUGO WOLF
In the nineteenth-century, that was a time in which solo vocal setting with piano
accompaniment of the German poetry extend in the well manner. The composers used to write
the songs in the format of multi-voice combination. In that scenario, the innovation was the
transmuted vocal presence. It is defining the two types of poem that is opera and plage music.
The main aim is analysed the summery of the poem in correct manner. The harmonic and tonic
function usually make the poem most attractive (Göppner, 2017). This all musical instrumentals
are different from the western music. The two music composers named as Schubert and Mahler
have affected the most of the composers of the 19th century. He has tried his best to compose the
song in good vocal voice but a song in shot is not meant to be song which has well defined.
Evaluation on the poem of “Grenzen der Menschheit”
In this poem the summery is based on the idea of the compromise between the man and
god. This poem is related to the limits of the humanity. This music is made with using the link of
the Sarastro. The main motive of this poem is based on the inspiration to the man so hat he can
have the best human action (Hoffmann and Richter, 2017). He also has taken some decision
when he saw the poem in the printed page. He found that there some line which are giving the
longest detail and some of them are defining short details of each pera.The first is defining about
4

the 'immortal fire, the second one is 'air' and the last two is defining the two term that is earth and
water. This poem named '“Grenzen der Menschheit” is simply related to the continuously re-
invented of the prometheos. The word is not related to each other. The poem should be that
which can clearly define the means of the poem. This poem reflects the detail of human action
with the term of the god. The poem is explaining about the term as men with the god (Kuhnke
and König, 2016). It means there are no ethics morale in the man which can compare himself
from the god.
There is no kind of measurement between both of them. This poem in describe the term of
divinity tries to define the significance of the human life. The both term human action from god
can't be measurable. This poem was unfinished. The writer of the poem was only 18 year old
when he wrote this term. This poem has so many personas contemplates. This is impossible to
redefining the term. In order to justify the human action tends to being difficult to ascertain. The
Hugo wolf wrote the short poem due to this regard the poem cannot be systematically identified
in this term. The term of the poem is so irrelevant. The Wolf poem has rejected by the many
music composers. He usually uses larger forms of the word in his poem. He is famous due to his
temperament, inclination are leading him to get more concentration on the work. He believed in
the term as mastering the lager form is the hallmark of the great composer. The poem is related
to find out the difference between human action with the god. The poem should b made in order
to have ideal creative outlet of the words.
The Hugo wolf is famous in the tonality term of the poem. To find out the variation between
human action from god is totally irrelevant poem. This song describes the relationship of god
with the human action (Liebgott, 2016). The song is based on the imaginary situation. This was
the song which contains the large number of the expression s of the plage. In this poem there are
four stanzas each one is defining the different meaning. The poem reflects the musical effects
that how h poem is based on the several factors of the music instrument. It clearly defines the
transformation of the tonic of the music system. The good music can be compose with the help
of various kind of instrumental factor. The role of pianos, tonic function are useful with the
subject matter of the poem.
5

The summery on the poem as “ Alles endet, was entstehet”.
The writer of this poem is “Hugo Wolf” this poem is related to the term is that everything
in the world is come to the end one nobody ill be forever here. The time flies like the wind of the
air no one can hold it (Storr, 2015). The pain joy everything gonna be vanished one day. The
people who belong to here today will go to escape one day and they see their grand children from
here. On the earth the people who are present today will be vanish it the rule of nature who come
have to go one day. The writer is defining the act of living that life is so small there is no
guarantee of anything. The human should be full of life. The people uses to live there life as
there are no tomorrows. In life people not to be present as the lifeless person. Each have the
morale authority toward the life. Those who come have to pass one day. This poem generally
give it focuses on the thing like everything going to be end whether its life or thinking, speaking,
pain and joy. This song was related to change of the time. It is defining that life is uncertain.
Anything can be happened at any time. In life people have short span of time. They don't have to
sad on the moment. The life is full of obstacles but people should have idea about the cause of
how to deal with it. The poem is reflective. The music give relaxation to the soul. The music
give rest to the person. They can enjoy the music in the boredom in their life moments.
It is based on the imaginary term. The cause of the poem is based on the true and fact. It is
uncertain. This poem relate to the future defining term. In this poem they used tonic function
which makes the source of the poem more attractive. This kind of poem is very inspiration poem.
It generally motivates the employees (Strobel, 2017). It can also help in changing the mood of
the person. This poem is mainly defining the relationship of the people with the function of the
life. This poem generally relates to the object that everything gonna end except the music. The
life of the music is immortal. The writer, composer will die one day but the life of their music
will tend to be forever. This poem generally relates to the object that everything gonna end
except the music. The life of the music is immortal. The writer, composer will die one day but
the life of their music will tend to be forever. The life of the music is certain but life of the
human being is uncertain. The poem is based on the factors which used to motivate the people so
that they can get inspiration and do well in their life. The writer wants to say that music has
explanation in the invisible term. This poem is regard to define the importance of the music in
the life. The music should be creative so that can inspire the people to perform the activities in
6

the well specified manner. The poet of this poem describing the vent of the life and its connected
with the importance of the music. The music give relaxation to the mind and soul of the person.
CONCLUSION
As per the above detailed report, it has been concluded music plays an important role in
human life. It can be differ as per the person's mind, mood and environment. This report present
the songs which was created by Hugo Wolf. They mainly focus on the terms as the use of the
music instrumental (Arifianto and Pratiwi, 2016). It also discovered the impact of music and
process by which he can share the situation. By taking the example of various songs such as IN
DEM SCHATTEN MENIER LOCKEN, BEGEGNUNG, Alles endet, was entstehet and
Grenzen der Menschheit. It explained the condition of character which plays an important role in
songs. It also provides the comparison between opera and plage songs which make different
effect in different person. By using various musical instruments Hugo can present the situation
such as mystery, stress and love which can attract the listeners in a large level. The music is very
help full to cheer up the mood. In the last the poem is on the imaginary world that everything is
uncertain except the music. The music is very ending term. It will be forever.
7

REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Arifianto, D. and Pratiwi, E. W., 2016, November. Enhanced harmonics for music appreciation
on cochlear implant. In Region 10 Conference (TENCON), 2016 IEEE .
Castellengo, M. and Bernardoni, N. H., 2014, July. Interplay between harmonics and formants in
singing: when vowels become music. In International Symposium on Musical Acoustics
(ISMA 2014).
Chen, K., Xu, F., Liu, Q., Liu, H., Zhang, Y., Ma, L. and Ai, Q., 2016. SSVEP Recognition by
Using Higher Harmonics Based on Music. Journal of Computing and Information Science
in Engineering. 16(4). pp.041005.
Gibson, S., 2016. The Science of Harmonics and Music Theory in Ancient Greece. A Companion
to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2 Volume Set, 1,
p.161.
Huang, Q and et.al., 2017. Unitary transformations for spherical harmonics MUSIC. Signal
Processing. (131). pp.441-446.
Kumar, L., Bi, G. and Hegde, R. M., 2016, March. The spherical harmonics root-MUSIC. In
Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2016 IEEE International Conference
on. IEEE.
Ma, F., Tian, G., Tian, L., Lu, X. and Bai, S., 2017. Study on the Relationship between Melody
Perception and Music Harmonics.
Storr, A., 2015. Music and the Mind. Simon and Schuster.
Fäh, M., 2017. Kill me in Paris oder: Die Bestie in uns. In Lust und Laster . Springer Berlin
Heidelberg.
Göppner, H.J., 2017. „Der Weg entsteht beim Gehen“–Interdependenz-und Wirkfaktoren-
Forschung für eine Sozialarbeitswissenschaft als Handlungswissenschaft. In Damit"
Hilfe" Hilfe sein kann. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
8

Hoffmann, M. and Richter, T., 2017. War das schon alles an gewerblichen Schutzrechten?–
Sorten-und Halbleiterschutz. In Geistiges Eigentum in der Betriebspraxis. Springer
Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Kappes, C., 2017. Unternehmenskommunikation auf Facebook–ein Geschäft mit Unsicherheiten.
In Medienwandel kompakt. Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Kuhnke, R. and König, K., 2016. Alles Zucker, oder was?-Endokrine und metabolische
Notfälle. Retten!. 5(03). pp.212-221.
Liebgott, W., 2016. Es könnte alles so einfach sein...-Variationen über einen fast alltäglichen
Sachverhalt aus dem Grenzgebiet. Umsatzsteuer-Rundschau. 65(16). p.628.
Povh, B., 2017. Quarks und Leptonen–der Blick tief in die Materie. In Von den Tiefen des Alls in
den Mikrokosmos.Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Strobel, B., 2017. Der Nießbrauch. JURA-Juristische Ausbildung. 39(5). pp.512-519.
Online
The musical instrumental, 2017 [Online]. Available through: <http://www.hmc.org.uk/about-
hmc/projects/the-british-education-system/>. [Accessed on 10th Augest 2017].
Everything comes to an end, 2017 [online]. Available
through:<http://www.uritext.co.uk/index.php>. [Accessed on 10th Augest 2017].
9