Erich J. Wolff (1874-1913)
The Austrian composer of Jewish descent, Erich J. (Jacques) Wolff, was born on December 3, 1874, as Jakob Wolff in Vienna. He was a contemporary of Arnold Schoenberg and belonged to the generation of Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Skrjabin, as well as to that of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Due to the sometimes difficult situation for Jews in Vienna, he changed his first name Jakob to Erich J. He generally abbreviated his second name, Jacques (the French version of Jakob), to J. He died very young on March 20, 1913, from an ear infection while on a concert tour in the USA.
Education
He studied at the Conservatory of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, studying piano under Anton Door, a pupil of Czerny, and composition under Robert Fuchs, known as "Serenaden-Fuchs" for his melodious orchestral serenades. Fuchs had already taught Gustav Mahler and would go on to instruct Zemlinsky, Schreker, Sibelius, as well as Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Robert Stolz.
Impact During His Lifetime
Erich J. Wolff was, according to Engelbert Humperdinck, perhaps the most important piano accompanist in Austria at the beginning of the 20th century.
As a composer, the art song was at the center of his work, with over 150 contributions. He also composed piano music for two and four hands, chamber music for violin and piano, three melodramas, a large violin concerto, and a ballet pantomime that premiered posthumously in Prague. According to Peter P. Pachl, he also attempted an opera, although there are no clear sources for this. What is certain is that he worked with the best German-speaking singers of his time and therefore had a deep understanding of the human voice.
Forgotten Forever?
It is artistically incomprehensible that this composer is almost forgotten. There were times when he was better known abroad than Alexander von Zemlinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, both of whom he was friends with. However, after his early death in the USA, Wolff was quickly forgotten in Europe. In the USA, where renowned singers like the Dutch soprano Julia Culp and the then-MET star Florence Easton advocated for him, some of his songs remained in the repertoire until after World War II, gradually fading into obscurity.
The reasons for this are certainly not to be found in the quality of his music, which was almost entirely published during his lifetime, but rather in the outbreak of World War I shortly after his death and the lack of descendants or advocates of his work who would have had to promote his oeuvre. Most of his music is no longer published today and therefore cannot be performed even with the best intentions.
The final blow to the forgetting of Erich J. Wolff was delivered by the Nazis: music by Jewish composers could not be performed in Germany from 1933 to 1945, and from 1938 to 1945, it could not be performed in Austria either. Bad luck and misfortune have almost completely erased his name.