Iowa State students will have the opportunity to experience classic German poetry set to music when Lionel Friend and vocalists perform “The Music of Hugo Wolf.”

“Wolf is one of a long line of German-Austrian musicians that had a great impact on song composition,” ISU associate professor of music Donald Simonson said.

Born in 1860, Hugo Wolf was considered the greatest songwriter of his day, and some even considered him the greatest of all time. He gained recognition for his contribution to the German lied, or art song. Wolf brought a new complexity in the nearly 300 songs he composed by combining poetry and musical element.

Tonight’s concert will feature a collection of Hugo Wolf songs performed by Lionel Friend, soprano vocalist Karen Kness, mezzo soprano Lucinda Sloan and baritone William Shomos.

Sloan is a professor of music at Midland Lutheran College and Shomos is director of opera and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Using texts of great German poets for his pieces, Wolf usually focused on one poet at a time.

Tonight’s performance will feature compositions using the words of Eduard Morike. The Morike poems selected by Wolf deal with all the aspects of life.

“Wolf has taken the poetry to a deeper level,” Shomos said. “The poetry and music thoroughly explores what it means to be a human on this earth.”

As a piano and conducting specialist in late 19th century German repertory, Friend has performed throughout Europe and the United States and lives in London, England.

“[Friend] has the same passion for Wolf’s music as we all do,” Shomos said.

Shomos has been working with Friend on a song book of Wolf’s music. He said the 53 songs in the book provide an entire afternoon of music.

This month, Shomos is performing songs from the book at a symposium titled “The Fullness of Life: The Voice of Hugo Wolf” at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“It was just too much work just to perform once,” Shomos said, so they decided to take the show on the road.

Iowa State booked the event to help expose students to a performance by a “real professional,” Simonson said.

The concert is being funded in part by Louise Moen Hamilton Endowment for Excellence in Music.

“This fund has been given to bring in guest artists that enhance the quality of education that can not be done with other funds,” Simonson said.