(b Berlin, 11 Dec1758;d there,15 May 1832). German composer. Trained as a mason, he was a violinist from the 1770s. He became a highly influential figure in Berlin's musical life, notably as director (from 1800) of the Singakademie, which he made one of the leading choral organizations of its kind; he particularly promoted Bach's music. He established the Liedertafel (a men's singing society) in 1809 and an institute of church music in 1822, and was also a prominent teacher (Mendelssohn was one of his pupils). Foremost among his works are his 200 lieder, some of which have texts by his friend Goethe, who approved his settings above all. In some he used more varied forms, advanced harmonies and expressive accompaniments than were normal, approaching Schubert's style and strongly influencing other Berlin composers. He also wrote secular and sacred choral works, keyboard pieces and essays and letters on music.
Zelter, Karl Friedrich (Petzow-Werder/Havel, 1758-1832, Berlin), German composer of vocal music. He was highly regarded by Goethe, who preferred Zelter's settings of his poems to those of any other composer. Zelter corresponded with Goethe from 1795 on, and the two men became lifelong friends. Both died in May 1832. The letters between them were published as Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter (3 vols.), ed. W. Rintel, 1833-4, and in a new edition by L. Geiger (8 vols.) in 1904. Zelter was partly responsible for the Bach revival; he pioneered the rediscovery of the motets and the B Minor Mass in 1823 and gave permission for the autograph score of the St Matthew Passion to be copied into parts; six years later, in 1829, he gave his pupil F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy the opportunity to conduct its first performance since Bach's death in 1750.
As a composer, Carl Friedrich Zelter is best known for his lieder, particularly those that are settings of poems by his close friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. But Zelter's greatest contribution may have been as a music educator: he was a key figure in the movement to establish public-supported music instruction in Germany.
Zelter was born on December 11, 1758, in Berlin. He showed musical talent as a child, teaching himself to play piano, violin, and other instruments; nevertheless, he prepared for a career as a mason, like his father. At the age of 14 he became a master mason and four years later took control of his father's masonry business. That same year (1787) he married.
But Zelter also remained active in music during his youth, playing in the Theater am Gendarmenmarkt orchestra and composing his first works -- an opera fragment dates to 1778 and a Hallelujah for voices and orchestra is from 1782. During the years 1784-1786 he was a composition student of Carl Friedrich Fasch.
In 1791, Zelter joined Fasch's Berliner Singakademie, an ensemble of singers that performed works a cappella. Zelter's wife, having given birth to eight children, died in 1795. The following year the composer remarried, his new bride a well-known singer at the time, Juliane Pappritz.
In about 1799 Zelter met and soon became a close friend of Goethe. From that year until 1832, they exchanged nearly 900 letters; meanwhile, Zelter set 75 texts by Goethe to music. When Fasch died in 1800, Zelter took over directorship of the Berliner Singakademie. In 1808 he created an orchestra, the Ripienschule, to accompany the Akademie's singers in concert. That same year his wife died.
In 1809 Zelter joined the faculty of Berlin's Royal Academy of the Arts and also founded a second choral group, Liedertafel. He remained active in composition during these years, turning out many vocal works, including a collection of 45 songs (1810-1813).
He was also instrumental now in the establishment of three public-supported institutes of music, the first two in Königsberg and Breslau in 1814 and 1815, respectively, and the last in Berlin in 1822, which he assumed directorship of the following year.
Zelter remained active in his last years, especially in the area of lieder composition, his last important collection being 10 Lieder für Männerstimmen, completed shortly before his death in 1832. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide
Zelter was born in Berlin. He trained to become a mason like his father, but his musical talent showed through. He studied composition under Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, joining his Berlin Singakademie in 1791. When Fasch died in 1800, Zelter became director of the Singakademie.[2]
Zelter started an orchestra called the Ripienschule to accompany the Singakademie in 1808. The following year, he became a faculty member of the Royal Academy of the Arts in Berlin and also founded the Liedertafel, for which he wrote choral music. In 1822 he founded the Royal Institute for Church Music.
Zelter became friendly with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and his works include settings of Goethe's poems. During his career, he composed about two hundred lieder, as well as cantatas, a viola concerto (performed as early as 1779)[3] and piano music.
Amongst Zelter's pupils (at different times) were Felix Mendelssohn[4], Fanny Mendelssohn[5]Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Heinrich Dorn. Felix Mendelssohn was perhaps Zelter's favorite pupil and Zelter wrote to Goethe boasting of the 12-year old's abilities. Zelter communicated his strong love of the music of J. S. Bach to Mendelssohn, one consequence of which was Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Singakademie under Zelter's auspices. This epochal event sparked a general re-evaluation and revival of Bach's works which were then largely forgotten and regarded as old-fashioned and beyond resuscitation. Mendelssohn had hoped to succeed Zelter on the latter's death as leader of the Singakademie, but the post went instead to Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen.
Postage stamp (1952) from the series Men from Berlin's Past
Zelter was married to Julie Pappritz in 1796, one year after his first wife, Sophie Eleonora Flöricke, née Kappel, had died. Pappritz was a well-known singer at the Berlin Opera. Zelter is buried at the Sophienkirche in Berlin. The violinist Daniel Hope (born 1974) is a direct descendant of Zelter.[1]
Zelter was the author of a biography of Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, first published in 1801 by J.F. Unger in Berlin.
