Wolf was fascinated by the music of Wagner. He tried to get Wagner’s attention once, running after his coach and begging Wagner to listen to his music. He was terribly sad when Wagner died. He wrote a song "Zur Ruh, zur Ruh" (“To rest, to rest") which is one of his best early works. He was very depressed because Wagner had gone and he felt that there was no one who could inspire him to compose. 