Hans Keller 1919 - 1985: A musician in dialogue with his times

by Alison Garnham (Author), Alison Garnham (Author), Susi Woodhouse (Author)

New
Illustrated
2018
$40.33

A musician of penetrating insight, Hans Keller (1919-1985) was also an exceptional writer whose importance for post-war music in Britain is fundamental. Witty, passionate, sometimes disarmingly honest, Keller's letters present not only a vivid picture of an extraordinary mind, but also a significant insight into his musical times. Keller's correspondents included Alfred Brendel, Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, H.C. Robbins Landon, Deryck Cooke and Nicholas Kenyon. Garnham and Woodhouse present a fascinating biography, illuminated by Keller's own letters, which shall appeal to all serious classical music lovers.

Synopsis

A musician of penetrating insight, Hans Keller (1919-1985) was also an exceptional writer whose importance for post-war music in Britain is fundamental. Witty, passionate, sometimes disarmingly honest, Keller's letters present not only a vivid picture of an extraordinary mind, but also a significant insight into his musical times. Keller's correspondents included Alfred Brendel, Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, H.C. Robbins Landon, Deryck Cooke and Nicholas Kenyon. Garnham and Woodhouse present a fascinating biography, illuminated by Keller's own letters, which shall appeal to all serious classical music lovers.

$40.33

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 436
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 07 Dec 2018
ISBN 10: 1138391042
ISBN 13: 9781138391048

Media Reviews

This is a detailed and revealing biography, rich in context and background, of one of the great musical thinkers, writers and broadcasters of our time. It casts a penetrating light on the post-war cultural scene and the passionate internal battles of music broadcasting on the BBC. Keller's many enthusiasms, from Schoenberg and Mendelssohn to Gershwin and the Beatles, shine through his fiercely communicative prose. And all are illuminated by the moving personal integrity of a man who, facing extinction by the Nazis in 1938, swore that if he survived I'll never again be in a bad mood, whatever the circumstances of my life or death . Alison Garnham and Susi Woodhouse have written a vital chapter in the musical history of our times.

Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of The Barbican Centre, London, UK.

Author Bio

Alison Garnham was the original archivist of the Hans Keller Archive when it was first established at Cambridge in 1996. She is the author of Hans Keller and the BBC (2003) and Hans Keller and Internment (2011) and co-editor with Christopher Wintle of Keller's Music and Psychology (2003) and Britten: the Musical Character (2013). She has also worked for many years on the history of BBC music, including her contribution to The Proms - A New History (2005). Most recently she has written on the legacy of Sir William Glock and the concerts of the European Broadcasting Union. Susi Woodhouse is the current archivist of the Hans Keller Archive in Cambridge. She is a music librarian with forty years' experience in the profession. She read music at Newnham College Cambridge and took a postgraduate diploma in librarianship at UCL before joining the British Library in 1976. Following a portfolio career including the period at the British Library, running the music library services for Ealing Libraries and working on the GBP120M Lottery-funded project to provide ICT in all UK public libraries at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Susi now divides her time between the Hans Keller Archive and the concert programme collections at Cambridge University Library and cataloguing the photographs in the archive of the London Symphony Orchestra.