The Brahms-Keller Correspondence - Hardcover

"Few scholars can match Bozarth's experience with Brahms primary sources or his general knowledge of the field of Brahms studies."-David Brodbeck, editor of Brahms Studies -- David Brodbeck "The scholarship is really superior. The editor has a wonderful grasp of the secondary literature and handles the primary sources with great skill."-Walter Frisch, Columbia University -- Walter Frisch "An invaluable addition to Brahms literature."-Times Literary Supplement * Times Literary Supplement * "George Bozarth introduces and annotates every item with a scrupulousness to rival Keller's own, building a compelling picture of two professionals intent upon the service of music."-Music Magazine * Music Magazine *

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.