Item #39123 Das Gastmahl. Gedicht von Goethe. Musik von Zelter. Carl Friedrich ZELTER.
Das Gastmahl. Gedicht von Goethe. Musik von Zelter

Das Gastmahl. Gedicht von Goethe. Musik von Zelter

Berlin: T. Trautwein, Mai 1832.

Large folio (438 x 269 mm.), folded to octavo. Lithographed by L. Sachse in Berlin.

A facsimile reproduction of Goethe's 5-verse poem dated Weimar 2 October 1813 and a facsimile of Zelter's autograph musical manuscript setting, with publisher's notes to first page: "We are giving the public a small souvenir of the poet who recently passed away and his musical friend who followed him so quickly. Goethe often used to send poems suitable for composition freshly in manuscript to Zelter."

Worn, foxed, and slightly soiled; split at lower vertical fold; small hole to central portion without loss; spine when folded to octavo reinforced with early blue paper.

Rare. The present facsimile of Goethe's poem Das Gastmahl (later called Offne Tafel), set to music by Zelter, was published shortly after Zelter's death on 15 May 1832.

Zelter, a German composer, conductor, and teacher, was a great friend of Goethe, who died only a few weeks earlier than the composer, on 22 March 1832. "According to P.C. Kayser and J.F. Reichardt, Goethe found in Zelter the musical adviser he had been seeking. Their correspondence, eventually comprising almost 900 letters (1799–1832), grew increasingly intimate, and finally, when Goethe wrote to Zelter about the suicide of his stepson Karl Flöricke, employed the familiar pronoun ‘du’. Accounts of notable events – the meeting between Goethe and Beethoven in 1812, the production of Der Freischütz in 1821, the performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in 1829 – make it a valuable source of music history. Goethe and Zelter also discussed basic questions relating to music – notably the lied – and its position among the arts." Hans-Günter Ottenberg in Grove Music Online

"[Zelter's] funeral took place on 18 May; Rungenhagen directed the Singakademie and Friedrich Schleiermacher delivered the funeral oration. Also at the funeral the Berlin firm of Trautwein distributed to the mourners a memorial tribute to both Zelter and Goethe." Little: Mendelssohn and the Berlin Singakademie in Todd: Mendelssohn and His World, p. 68.

Item #39123

Price: $200.00  other currencies

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