author
Ludwig Rellstab
1799–1860
A sharp-witted Berlin poet and critic, he is remembered both for his own writing and for the poems that found a lasting second life in song. Several of his texts were set by Franz Schubert in Schwanengesang, keeping his voice close to the heart of German Romantic music.
2 Audiobooks
Henriette, oder die schöne Sängerin: Eine Geschichte unserer Tage
by Ludwig Rellstab
1812: Historische roman
by Ludwig Rellstab
About the author
Born in Berlin on April 13, 1799, Ludwig Rellstab was a German poet, journalist, and music critic who grew up in a musical household: his father was the publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab. He was also a capable pianist, and that practical feel for music shaped the lively, sometimes cutting style of his criticism.
Rellstab wrote for important periodicals, including the liberal Vossische Zeitung, and he founded the music journal Iris im Gebiete der Tonkunst. His reputation rested on more than criticism alone. He published poetry and prose, and he became especially well known because several of his poems were later set by major composers.
Today he is most often associated with Franz Schubert, whose posthumous song collection Schwanengesang opens with seven settings of Rellstab poems. His verse was also set by Franz Liszt and others, giving his work an afterlife in performance as well as on the page. He died in Berlin on November 27, 1860.