The Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie für Gesang • Dichtung • Liedkunst e.V. Stuttgart was started by a circle of enthusiasts of song and lied. In 1898, Hugo Faißt, a lawyer and friend of the composer Hugo Wolf, constituted the Hugo-Wolf-Verein in Stuttgart.

Why we sponsor song:
Song and lied no longer are a natural part of living culture. We want to support and preserve this field of music.

In 1931, the International Hugo Wolf Society for the Promotion of the Art of Lied emerged in New York. The founding members included: Thomas Mann, Thornton Wilder, Bruno Walter, Elena Gerhardt, Lotte Lehmann and Darius Milhaud. Hermann Reutter and Carl Orff were responsible for Germany and breathed new life into the Stuttgart Verein in 1968.

In 1990, the organization changed its name to the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie für Gesang • Dichtung • Liedkunst e.V. Stuttgart. Hugo Wolf underlined the poetic element in lied. His name is synonymous with the composer’s claim to create lied from music and poetry.