'Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt': Reflections on nature and genre in Wolf's setting of Goethe's Der 'Sanger'

Lawrence Kramer has highlighted some of the myths that surround early writi ng on Wolf - in particular the myth that he was able to realize a poem's 'n atural breath' by submitting his identity entirely to the poet's. Kramer pr efers to link Wolf with the figure of the harper from Goethe's Wilhelm Meis ter, casting him as a musician who is compelled to reflect his own inadequa cy. Yet such a picture still underestimates the complexity of the Lieder co mposer's role, as suggested by Goethe and confirmed by Wolf. In the ballad Der Sanger Goethe disturbed early Romantic conceptions of the lyric by impl ying the harper was aware of how his 'song' both failed and succeeded in th e hoped-for communication with his listeners. Wolf's own layered interpreta tion of Der Sanger takes the challenge to our understanding of the lyric on e stage further; it thus offers a crucial clarification of the potential of the musical Lied as the composer's vehicle for active and effective critic ism.