Classical: Who's afraid of Hugo Wolf? Hugo Wolf's life was short and intense - just like the songs he composed. On the eve of the centenary of his death and a series of London concerts, ADRIAN JACK celebrates a Romantic hero

Hugo Wolf, who died 100 years ago on 22 February, was the last great composer of Lieder, or German art-songs. He was not only the equal, as a song-writer, of Schubert and Schumann, for he achieved the unthinkable by compressing Wagner's dramatic power into a miniature form.

Wolf lived his short life of not quite 43 years with corresponding intensity. In many ways he was the typical Romantic artist, only able to work when the mood was right, and when it was, rapidly productive, sometimes completing as many as three songs in a day. "Nothing can be extorted from art by force", Wolf…