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Ludwig Rellstab

Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab (13 April 1799 – 27 November 1860) was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab. An able pianist, he published articles in various periodicals, including the influential liberal Vossische Zeitung, and launched the music journal Iris im Gebiete der Tonkunst, which was published in Berlin from 1830 to 1841. His outspoken criticism of the influence in Berlin of Gaspare Spontini landed him in jail in 1837.

Rellstab had considerable influence as a music critic and, because of this, had some power over what music could be used for German nationalistic purposes in the mid-nineteenth century. Because he had "an effective monopoly on music criticism" in Frankfurt and due to the popularity of his writings, Rellstab's approval would have been important for any musician's career in areas in which German nationalism was present.

The first seven songs of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang have words by Rellstab, who had left them in 1825 with Beethoven, whose assistant Anton Schindler passed them on to Schubert. His work was also set to music by Franz Liszt.

He is also known to have given Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2, its famous nickname Moonlight Sonata.

Birth and Death Data: Born April 13, 1799 (Berlin), Died November 27, 1860 (Berlin)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1946 - 1951

Roles Represented in DAHR: author

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor E0RB-3020 12-in. 1/3/1950 Liebesbotschaft Marian Anderson ; Franz Rupp Contralto solo, with piano author  
Victor D6RB-3224 10-in. 10/23/1946 Liebesbottschafft Dorothy Maynor Soprano vocal solo, with picano author  
Victor D6RB-3225 10-in. 10/23/1946 Ständchen Dorothy Maynor Soprano vocal solo, with picano author  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Rellstab, Ludwig," accessed October 6, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/104681.

Rellstab, Ludwig. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 6, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/104681.

"Rellstab, Ludwig." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 6 October 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/104681

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