Spanisches Liederbuch (English: Spanish songbook) is a collection of 44 Lieder (songs for voice and piano) by Hugo Wolf (1860–1903). They were composed between October 1889 and April 1890, and published in 1891. The words are translations into German by Emanuel Geibel (1815–84) and Paul Heyse (1830–1914) of Spanish and Portuguese poems and folk songs, published in a collection of 1852 also called Spanisches Liederbuch.[1][2][3]
The collection is divided into two parts: 10 Geistliche Lieder (English: spiritual songs) and 34 Weltliche Lieder (English: secular or worldly songs). The Geistliche Lieder mostly relate to the Holy Family: Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The Weltliche Lieder largely have erotic themes.
Wolf did not describe the set as a song cycle; though it has been recorded as such, with the songs divided between a male and a female singer; notably in 1966–67 by the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and the accompanist Gerald Moore.[4]
Wolf included an orchestrated version of "In dem Schatten meiner Locken" (Weltliche Lieder No. 2) in his comic opera Der Corregidor (1895).
"In dem Schatten meiner Locken" and "Nun wandre, Maria" (Geistliche Lieder No. 3) are among Wolf's best-known Lieder.
A complete performance takes about 1 hour 45 minutes.[3]
The German texts and some translations are available online at The LiederNet Archive:
The poems are listed below, with attributions to poet and translator where known.[7] They are identified by their first lines. A few songs have a title; that is given in capital letters.
