Letters of composers : an anthology, 1603-1945 / compiled and edited by Gertrude Norman and Miriam Lubell Shrifte.
| Author/creator |
Norman, Gertrude |
| Other author/creator | Shrifte, Miriam Lubell. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication Info | New York : A. A. Knopf, 1946. |
| Description | xviii, 422, xx pages, 1 : illustrations (plans, music) ; 24 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | Jan Pieters Sweelinck. The Burgomasters and Aldermen of Amsterdam March 30 1603 -- Claudio Monteverdi. Alessandro Striggio December 9 1616 ; Alessandro Striggio May 7 1627 ; An unknown recipient October 22 1633 -- Heinrich Schutz. Wilhelm Ludwig Moser December 30 1624 ; The elector Johann Georg I of Saxony November 3 1628 ; Christian Reichbrodt May 28 1652 -- Samuel Scheidt. Duke August of Brunswick June 19 1642 ; Heinrich Baryphonus January 26 1651 -- Jean Philippe Rameau. Houdart de la Motte October 25 1757 ; A.M. Beguillet October 6 1762 -- George Frideric Handel. Johann Mattheson February 24 1719 ; Charles Jennens Jr December 29 1741 -- Johann Sebastian Bach. Prince Christian Ludwig Margrave of Brandenburg March 24 1721 ; Georg Erdmann October 28 1730 ; Tobias Rothschieren May 2 1735 ; Frederick the Great July 7 1747 ; Johann Elias Bach November 2 1748 -- Giuseppe Tartini. Giambattista Martini March 31 1731 ; Maddalena Lombardini Syrmen March 5 1760 -- Johann Adolf Hasse. Abbe Giovanni Maria Ortes September 30 1769 -- Giambattista Martini. Andrea Basili January 28 1750 ; Pietro Morandi August 10 1776 -- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Johann Joachim Eschenburg January 21 1786 -- Christoph Willibald Von Gluck. Gottlieb Friedrich Klopstock August 14 1773 ; Le Blanc du Rollet July-August 1776 ; Jean Francois de la Harpe October 12 1777 ; Comtesse de Fries November 16 1777 ; Valentin April 17 1782 -- Franz Joseph Haydn. Herr Roth December 1787 ; Maria Anna von Genzinger February 9 1790 ; The managers of the Esterhazy Estate 1796 or 1797 Messrs Breitkopf and Hartel June 12 1799 ; Members of the Bergen Musical Union September 22 1802 -- Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach. Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg April 1 1773 -- Johann Christian Bach. Giambattista Martini June 24 1757 -- Andre Erneste Gretry. Giambattista Martini March 3 1768 -- Karl Stamitz. King Freidrich Wilhelm II of Prussia April 12 1791 -- Muzio Clementi. F.W. Collard April 22 1807 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Hieronymus von Colloredo Archbishop of Salzburg August 1 1777 ; His father October 23 1777 ; His cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart December 3 1777 ; His father December 15 1781 ; Michael Puchberg July 12-14 1789 ; His wife July 7 1791 -- Ludwig Van Beethoven. Karl Amenda June 1 1801 ; His brothers the Heiligenstadt Testament October 6 1802 ; The immortal beloved July 6 1806 ; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe April 12 1811 ; Emilie M July 17 1812 ; Ignaz von Mosel 1817 ; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe February 8 1823 ; Ignaz Moscheles March 18 1827 -- Gasparo Spontini. Antonio Salieri April 9 1816 -- Louis Spohr. Moritz Hauptmann June 8 1824 -- Carl Maria Von Weber. Hans Goerg Nageli May 1 1810 ; Johann Gansbacher March 10 1817 ; Johann Gansbacher March 28 1821 -- Carl Czerny. Johann Peter Pixis June 8 1824 ; Franz Liszt July 14 1824 -- Giacomo Meyerbeer. Franz Liszt February 8 1852 -- Gioacchino Rossini. Leopoldo Cicognara February 12 1817 ; Ferdinando Guidicini February 12 1851 ; Giuseppe Bellentari December 28 1853 ; Giovanni Pacini April 8 1864 ; Franz Liszt June 23 1865 -- Franz Schubert. Franz von Schober and other friends September 8 1818 ; Leopold Kupelwieser March 31 1824 ; Emperor Francis II April 7 1826 ; Franz von Schober November 12 1828 -- Vincenzo Bellini. Jean Battista Perucchini December 31 1831 -- Hector Berlioz. His uncle February 18 1825 ; Humbert Ferrand October 30 1829 ; Johann Vesque von Puttlingen March 31 1851 ; Franz Liszt June 25 1855 ; Richard Wagner September 10 1855 ; Humbert Ferrand November 10 1864 -- Mickhail Ivanovich Glinka. Nestor Kukolnik April 18 1845 -- Felix Mendelssohn. Carl Friedrich Zelter June 22 1830 ; Ignaz Moscheles February 7 1834 ; Committee of the lower Rhine music festival January 18 1838 ; Conrad Schleinitz August 1 1838 ; Ignaz Moscheles November 30 1839 ; Marc-Andre Souchay October 15 1841 -- Frederic Chopin. Joseph Elsner December 14 1831 ; Dominik Dziewanowski 1832 -- Robert Schumann. Friedrich Wieck November 6 1829 ; His mother July 30 1830 ; Clara Wieck April 13 1838 ; Gustav Adolf Keferstein January 31 1840 ; Felix Mendelssohn October 22 1845 ; His wife September 14 1854 -- Franz Liszt. Robert Schumann May 1838 ; Comtesse Marie D'Agoult June 1840 ; Wilhelm von Lenz December 2 1852 ; Baron Beaulieu Marconnay May 21 1855 -- Richard Wagner. Theodor Apel October 26 1835 ; Karl Gaillard January 30 1844 ; Eduard Hanslick January 1 1847 ; Franz Liszt April 18 1851 ; August Rockel January 25 1854 ; Otto Wesendonck March 21 1855 ; August Rockel August 23 1856 ; Mathilde Wesendonck January 19 1859 ; Bertha Goldwag February 1 1867 ; Friedrich Nietzsche Winter 1870 -- Giuseppe Verdi. Camille du Locle December 7 1869 ; Clarina Maffel September 30 1870 ; Francesco Florimo January 4 1871 ; Opprandino Arrivabene June 5 1882 ; Opprandino Arrivabene June 10 1884 ; Opprandino Arrivabene May 2 1885 -- Robert Franz. Franz Liszt December 26 1858 ; Franz Liszt March 18 1873 -- Charles Gounod. Pigny September-October 1870 ; Pigny April 14 1871 ; Oscar Comettant May 6 1874 -- Edouard Lalo. Pablo de Sarasate October 28 1878 ; Pablo de Sarasate November 21 1878 -- Bedrich Smetana. Franz Liszt March 23 1848 ; Josef Srb April 12 1878 -- Anton Bruckner. Baron Hans von Wohlzogen 1884 -- Johannes Brahms. Clara Schumann October 11 1857 ; George Henschel February 1880 ; Clara Schumann August 1894 -- Alexander Borodin. Lyubov Ivanovna Karmalina June 1 1876 -- Modest Mussorgsky. Arsenii Golenishchev-Kutuzov March 2 1874 ; Arsenii Golenishchev-Kutuzov August 15 1877. |
| Contents | Camille Saint-Saens. Camille Bellaigue January 30 1907 ; Camille Bellaigue February 4 1907 -- Mili Balakirev. Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky December 1869 -- Georges Bizet. Edmond Galabert and G October 1866 ; Paul Lacombe March 11 1867 ; Madame Halevy May 29 1871 -- Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Vladimir Stephanovich Shilovsky July 6 1877 ; Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck December 8 1877 ; Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck January 5 1878 ; Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck March 1 1878 ; Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck March 28 1878 ; Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck July 6 1878 ; Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich October 3 1888 -- Emmanuel Chabrier. Edouard Moulle November 4 1882 ; Costallat 1886 -- Antonin Dvorak. Emil Kozanek September 15 1893 -- Edvard Grieg. Edouard Colonne September 12 1899 ; Edouard Colonne October 4 1899 ; Henry T Finck December 21 1900 ; Mrs. Edward MacDowell December 14 1905 -- Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasoc July 4 1906 -- Vincent D'Indy. Charles Martin Loeffler December 15 1915 ; Daniel Gregory Mason January 30 1930 -- Ernest Chausson. Paul Poujaud 1886 -- Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev. Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky March 30 1878 -- Giacomo Puccini. Tito Ricordi February 18 1907 ; Giuseppe Adami 1920 -- Gustav Mahler. Josef Steiner June 17 1879 ; Arthur Seidl February 17 1897 ; Julius Buths March 25 1903 ; Bruno Walter Summer 1906 ; His wife January 1907 ; Willem Mengelberg February 1908 -- Charles Martin Loeffler. Elise Fay May 3 1888 ; Grace M Schirmer January 17 1907 -- Edward MacDowell. Mary M Shaw April 24 1897 ; Felix Mottl February 13 1904 -- Frederick Delius. Ethel Smyth March 15 1909 -- Claude Debussy. E Baron February 9 1887 ; Ernest Chausson September 6 1893 ; Jacques Durand September 3 1907 ; Jacques Durand March 1908 ; Jacques Durand August 5 1915 -- Horatio Park. Douglas Moore July 1 1917 -- Richard Strauss. Hugo von Hofmannsthal December 15 1913 ; Hugo von Hofmannsthal October 8 1914 -- Jean Sibelius. An unnamed recipient May 20 1918 ; Rosa Newmarch March 10 1930 -- Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov. Alexandre Tichonovitch Gretchaninoff July 19 1900 -- Granville Bantock. His son Raymond May 12 1926 -- Albert Roussel. L Dunton Green 1928 -- Alexander Scriabin. Nicholas F Findeizen December 26 1914 -- Max Reger. Adalbert Lindner June 6 1891 ; Ferruccio Busoni May 11 1895 ; Adolf Wach December 5 1914 -- Sergei Rachmaninoff. Marietta Shaginyan May 8 1912 -- Arnold Schonberg [i.e. Schoenberg]. Nicolas Slonimsky June 3 1937 -- Gustav Holst. William Gillies Whittaker 1921 -- Charles Ives. Lehman Engel May 18 1937 -- Maurice Ravel. The committee of the National League for the protection of French music June 7 1940 -- Ernest Bloch. Nicolas Slonimsky December 31 1928 ; His daughter Suzanne July 24 1940 -- Alfredo Casella. Isidor Philipp October 22 1941 -- Louis Gruenberg. Claire Reis April 15 1927 -- Arnold Bax. L Dunton Green 1928 -- Edgard Varese. Jose Rodriguez March 1 1933 -- Sergey Prokofiev. Paul Bowles August 27 1930 -- John Donald Robb. Frank Colapinto January 27 1944 -- Douglas Moore. Rose Resnick February 4 1941 ; Carl E Lindstrom January 17 1942 -- Walter Piston. Arthur V Berger August 2 1943 -- Robert Russell Bennett. National orchestral association January 21 1943 -- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Aldo Bruzzichelli October 18 1941 -- Ernst Levy. Barnett Byman February 18 1945 -- Howard Hanson. Music editor of the New York Times July 29 1935 -- Virgil Thomson. Aaron Copland March 20 1939 -- Henry Cowell. Olive Cowell June 1 1932 ; Olive Cowell March 1936 -- Roy Harris. Nicolas Slonimsky January 10 1944 ; Ruth Bracher March 15 1945 -- Randall Thompson. Douglas Moore April 22 1936 ; Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Moore July 22 1940 -- Carlos Chavez. Aaron Copland December 1 1934 -- George Antheil. Hans Heinsheimer February 16 1945 -- Ernst Krenek. George Perle March 13 1940 -- Aaron Copland. Nicolas Slonimsky 1927 ; Arthur V Berger Augut 6 1934 ; Arthur V Berger April 10 1943 -- Dmitri Shostakovich. The new Masses October 1941 -- Paul Creston. Denton Rossel February 28 1945 -- William Schuman. Robert Beckhard March 21 1942 -- David Diamond. Charles Naginsky February 14 1938 ; An unnamed recipient January 12 1939. |
| Abstract | Some of the most famous letters of musical history are in this anthology: Mozart's bold letter to the Archbishop of Salzburg asking for his freedom; Beethoven's first admission of his deafness and his Heiligenstadt testament; Verdi, writing in 1870, on the threat to civilization of the German penchant for aggression. Since there have been composers of music at all, they have written to each other and to their friends about their own lives and problems. And outsiders have found their letters fascinating. Gertrude Normal and Miriam Lubelle Shrifte have now had the creative idea of assembling a cross-section of this vast storehouse of insight into composers and composition. In general, they have chosen those letters which throw real light on the process by which music is created and performed. The result is a gallery of deft self-portraits of the most important composers from the sixteenth century to our own time. For though Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms among the great B's - and Strauss, Stravinsky, and Sibelius among the great S's - here are, the book might have been subtitled "From Jan Pieters Sweelinck to David Diamond." Letters originally written in English are given in pure text; translations are careful and modern. Here is a book that will supply endless interest to all music-lovers and musicians. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 418-422) and index. |
| LCCN | 46004505 |
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| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML90.N67 L4 1946 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |