Ex. 9-8: Der Freund

No. 1 — the opening song — of Hugo Wolf's Eichendorff-Lieder, his songbook on poems by Joseph von Eichendorff (composed 1888, published 1889). The poem describes the kind of friend Wolf admired: not someone who drifts gently on the waves, but one who steers bravely through a storm, trusting in God and the stars.

Wolf placed this song first as a thank-you. Eichendorff's poem is actually called "Die Freunde" (The Friends), and Wolf used it to open the book as a tribute to the friends who had stood by him — one had paid for the printing, and others had supported him through a long depression. He dedicated the whole collection to two of them, the Schalk brothers, who worked to promote his music in Vienna.

From the album Schumann / Wolf: Eichendorff Songs by Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees (2000)
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