An evening presented by Bernard Keeffe, former BBC presenter and Chairman of the Anglo Austrian Music Society

Hugo Wolf was born 150 years ago in Windischgrätz, a small town in what is now Slovenia, and spent most of his short career in Vienna. Throughout his lifetime he struggled for recognition as heir to the great Lieder tradition, and despite some local success, by the early
20th century his name often evoked no more than a sniff or a yawn. His songs were rarely performed and began to fade from the musical scene. The early 1930s saw a slump in record sales and Walter Legge of the newly formed EMI responded by forming Societies where sales were guaranteed by advance subscriptions (one of the first was the Hugo Wolf Society). Legge engaged the leading singers of the day such as Tiana Lemnitz, Alexander Kipnis, Helga Roswaenge and John McCormack with the distinguished accompanist, Gerald Moore to perform Wolf’s repertoire.

Bernard Keeffe will open the archives on Walter Legge’s remarkable achievement and bring back the sound of those glorious voices that opened the doors and ears of the world to the genius of Hugo Wolf.