Hugo Wolf

by Frank Walker

This is the definitive biography of the composer Hugo Wolf (1860-1903), who was among the greatest Romantic song composers. Frank Walker spent nearly fifteen years researching and writing this authoritative work, drawing on inter views with dozens of Wolf's friends, relatives, and fellow musicians and on the letters, diaries, and documents he uncovered to create a portrait of this head strong and fascinating man. Wolf was a passionate advocate of Wagner, whom he first met by befriending a chambermaid in a Vienna hotel to gain an introduction to his idol. Like Wagner, Wolf was a combative personality, and he would become almost as notorious for his outbursts of temper and scathing critiques as he was for his over two hundred masterful settings of poetry by Goethe, Mörike, and others. His songs were composed during periods of intense inspiration that were followed by lengthy fallow periods. Walker vividly portrays the extremes to which the composer was prone and interweaves an account of Wolf's creative triumphs with the tale of his life.

Genres: Music

538 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Frank Walker is a veteran journalist. His newspaper roles have included being chief reporter for the SUN-HERALD covering defence, veterans' affairs, national security and terrorism. He's also worked on the Sydney Morning Herald, the National Times, for News Limited in New York, and for Deutsche Welle international radio in Germany.

In 2009, Hachette published his first book, The Tiger Man of Vietnam - the remarkable true story of the secret war of Captain Barry Petersen in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It was a bestseller.

Frank followed this with his bestselling Ghost Platoon in 2012, Maralinga in 2014 and Commandos in 2015. He lives in Sydney with his family.