The Brahms-Keller Correspondence

by George Bozarth, Wiltrud Martin

For two decades, beginning in the early 1870s, Robert Keller, music editor for N. Simrock Verlag in Berlin, worked with diligence and devotion to usher into print most of Johannes Brahms's major compositions, including all four of his symphonies, the Violin Concerto, the Double Concerto, the Second Piano Concerto, and numerous chamber, choral, and vocal works. This volume collects for the first time the complete extant correspondence between Brahms and Keller, as preserved in the collections of the Library of Congress and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. To read their correspondence is to witness a relationship of mutual respect and increasing friendship and to gain an appreciation for the meticulous labor that went into the publication of Brahms's masterpieces. Keller’s admiration for the composer's genius was answered by Brahms's affection for Keller’s diligence and musical expertise. The vicissitudes of the publication process from composer’s manuscript to printed score are documented in fascinating detail. This edition includes a transcription of the letters in the original German.

321 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Steve Mossberg]

I’m not sure how to rate this book. To me, even as a big Brahms fan, I see it as a beautifully edited and scholarly archival edition of a largely boring pile of letters between the composer and his editor regarding the proofreading and preparation of some of his major works for publication. I enjoyed the new layer of detail laid upon on my favorite romantic composer and the sketchy outline of the intellectual Keller. That said, beyond research purposes there’s not much here for me.