Goethe and Zelter: Musical Dialogues

Goethe and Zelter spent a staggering thirty-three years corresponding. Zelter's position as director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin and Goethe's location in Weimar resulted in a wide-ranging correspondence. Goethe's letters offer a chronicle of his musical development, from the time of his journey to Italy to the final months of his life, while Zelter's letters retrace his path from stonemason to Professor of Music in Berlin. The 891 letters that passed between these artists provide an important musical record of the music performed in public concerts in Berlin and in the private and semi-public soirées of the Weimar court. The legacy contains a wide spectrum of letters, casual and thoughtfully composed, spontaneous and written for publication, rich with the details of Goethe's and Zelter's musical lives.

Author: Lorrainebyrne Bodley
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 09/28/2009
Pages: 604
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.25lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.31d
ISBN: 9780754655206

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2010

About the Author
Dr Lorraine Byrne Bodley is Lecturer in the Department of Music at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.