[Footnote 189: Detlev von Liliencron offered him an American subject.
"But in spite of my admiration for Buffalo Bill and his unwashed crew,"
said Wolf sarcastically, "I prefer my native soil and people who
appreciate the advantages of soap."]
But the main thing was that Wolf's creative genius had returned. In
April, 1896, he wrote straight away the twenty-two songs of the second
volume of the _Italienisches-Liederbuch_. At Christmas his friend Mueller
sent him some of Michelangelo's poems, translated into German by Walter
Robert-Tornow; and Wolf, deeply moved by their beauty, decided at once
to devote a whole volume of _Lieder_ to them. In 1897 he composed the
first three melodies. At the same time he was also working at a new
opera, _Manuel Venegas_, a poem by Moritz Hoernes, written after the
style of Alarcon. He seemed full of strength and happiness and
confidence in his renewed health. Mueller was speaking to him of the
premature death of Schubert, and Wolf replied, "A man is not taken away
before he has said all he has to say."
He worked furiously, "like a steam-engine," as he said, and was so
absorbed in the composition of _Manuel Venegas_ (September, 1897) that
he went without rest, and had hardly time to take necessary food.
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