Published in 1866, this two-volume collection of letters in English translation illuminates the character and preoccupations of a musical genius.

Published in 1866, this two-volume collection of letters in English translation illuminates the character and preoccupations of a musical genius.

The German poet Mathilde Wesendonck (1828-1902), author of the texts of the Wesendonck Lieder, was the wife of Wagner's patron, the wealthy silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. From 1852 until 1858, the Wagners lived next to the Wesendoncks in Zurich and an intense relationship developed between Wagner and Mathilde, subsequently reflected in the impossible love at the heart of his opera Tristan und Isolde. Prepared by the American musicologist Gustav Kobbe (1857-1918), who provides a helpful connecting narrative, this 1905 translation of a selection of 'the most intimate and striking' of Wagner's...

A great admirer of Richard Wagner, the music publisher Emil Heckel (1831-1908) founded the first Wagner Society in Mannheim in 1871. His purpose was to inspire others to help raise the necessary funds for the inaugural Bayreuth Festival. William Ashton Ellis (1852-1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, he published in 1899 this English translation of Heckel's memoirs (originally edited by his son Karl), interwoven with letters from Wagner to Heckel, who is described by the composer as his...

William Ashton Ellis (1852-1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works and of Carl Friedrich Glasenapp's multi-volume biography of the composer, Ellis published in 1911 this English translation of Wagner's Familienbriefe, spanning the years 1832-74. An inveterate letter writer, Wagner was the youngest-but-one of ten children and Ellis describes the character of these letters to his sisters, his mother, his brother-in-law and his nieces as a reflection of the composer in the 'driest and most...

William Ashton Ellis (1852 1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, Ellis also translated Wagner's letters to family and friends. In this 1899 publication, most of the letters are those which Wagner wrote to the wealthy retired silk merchant Otto Wesendonck, who provided Wagner with generous financial support and whose wife, Mathilde, provided the words for the Wesendonck Lieder. Also included here are letters to the German writer Malwida von Meysenbug, who was also a friend of Nietzsche, and...

Born in Prague, pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) studied in Vienna and rapidly became a central figure in European musical life. He lived and worked in London for twenty-five years, leaving in 1846 to become principal professor of piano at the Leipzig Conservatoire at the invitation of his great friend Mendelssohn. As a pianist, he was renowned for his incisive technique rooted in the tradition of Clementi, and also much admired for his extempore performances. As a composer his output was mainly for the piano, and his studies are still in use today. First published in 1872-3,...

Born in Prague, pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) studied in Vienna and rapidly became a central figure in European musical life. He lived and worked in London for twenty-five years, leaving in 1846 to become principal professor of piano at the Leipzig Conservatoire at the invitation of his great friend Mendelssohn. As a pianist, he was renowned for his incisive technique rooted in the tradition of Clementi, and also much admired for his extempore performances. As a composer his output was mainly for the piano, and his studies are still in use today. First published in 1872-3,...

The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works - all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812-69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work...

The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works - all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812-69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work...