]
Suddenly, at Doebling, on 29 November, 1891, the stream of Wolf's genius
flowed again, and he wrote fifteen Italian _Lieder_, sometimes several
in one day. In December it stopped again; and this time for five years.
These Italian melodies show, however, no trace of any effort, nor a
greater tension of mind than is shown in his preceding works. On the
contrary, they have the air of being the simplest and most natural work
that Wolf ever did. But the matter is of no real consequence, for when
Wolf's genius was not stirring within him he was useless. He wished to
write thirty-three Italian _Lieder_, but he had to stop after the
twenty-second, and in 1891 he published one volume only of the
_Italienisches-Liederbuch_. The second volume was completed in a month,
five years later, in 1896.
One may imagine the tortures that this solitary man suffered. His only
happiness was in creation, and he saw his life cease, without any
apparent cause, for years together, and his genius come and go, and
return for an instant, and then go again. Each time he must have
anxiously wondered if it had gone for ever, or how long it would be
before it came back again.
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