3 Harfenspieler Lieder (1888)

Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt

An die Türen will ich schleichen

Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass

Both Schubert and Schumann set the three songs attributed to the unhappy Harfenspieler in Wilhelm Meisters Lehjahre – but evidently not to the satisfaction of Hugo Wolf who, on principle, avoided poems which had been successfully treated before. Whatever the respective merits of the various settings, Wolf certainly had the advantage of post-Wagnerian developments in harmony which allowed him to reflect the disorientation of the old Harper with particular pathos in An die Türen will ich schleichen, which is tonally as well as metrically adrift until the unreal major chord at the end. This is presumably why, although it is the last of the Harper’s songs in Goethe’s novel – occuring at a point where he is bereft even of his harp – Wolf puts it in the middle of the set between two songs with simulated harp accompaniment, after Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt and before Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass