Program Notes

Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch (Italian Songbook) composed between 1890 and 1896 is an album of 46 songs set to Italian poems translated into German by Paul Heyse. In each song, Wolf created a unique voice-piano miniature, capturing moments in time that explore the relationship of two lovers.

Husband and wife duo Elizabeth and Michael Lepock depict these songs in alternating soprano and baritone voices. While they originally wanted to present the entire Italienisches Liederbuch in a live performance, pandemic restrictions challenged them to adapt to the virtual medium and choose selected highlights of this delightful vocal love-story.

In this program you'll hear a young woman sing about finding her ideal beau, a young musician attracted to her singing, the emotional back-and-forth as they test on another's sincerity, obstacles that challenge true love, expressions of eternal commitment, and of course rapturous idealizations of the beloved's appearance. Of course true love does not always run smoothly and Wolf included songs about that reality too. Classical music is full of "catalogue arias" sung by men listing their conquests, so as a finale Elizabeth reverses the situation by presenting one written for a woman.