Rellstab, Ludwig

Poet

Rellstab, Ludwig

1799 - 1860

Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab 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 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.

Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.

Song List

This list is likely to be of songs that have been performed at Oxford International Song Festivals and Oxford Song events, and may not be comprehensive of this composer's compositions. This database is ever growing as a work in progress, with further songs regularly being added.

Abschied D957g Franz Schubert
Auf dem Strom (1828) D943 Franz Schubert
Aufenthalt D957e Franz Schubert
Frühlingssehnsucht D957c Franz Schubert
Herbst (1828) D945 Franz Schubert
In der Ferne D957f Franz Schubert
Kriegers Ahnung D957b Franz Schubert
Lebensmut (1828) D937 Franz Schubert
Liebesbotschaft D957a Franz Schubert
Ständchen D957d Franz Schubert
Ständchen (trans. for guitar by Bernardo Rambeaud) D957d Franz Schubert

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