Robert Ignatius Letellier (born 1953, in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

) is a

cultural historian Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

and academic, specialising in the history of music, Romantic literature and the Bible. He teaches at the

Maryvale Institute Maryvale Institute is a college of further and higher education, an International Catholic Distance-Learning College for Catechesis, Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education in Old Oscott, Great Barr, Birmingham, England. It specialises in t ...

and the

Institute of Continuing Education The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) is a department of the University of Cambridge dedicated to providing continuing education programmes which allow students to obtain University of Cambridge qualifications at un ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Biography

Letellier has ten degrees in a range of subjects, including English, history, philosophy, and scripture. He has a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(PhD) degree in

English Romanticism Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. Scholars regard the publishing of William Wordsworth's and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Samuel Coleridge's ''Lyrical Ballads ...

from the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university A public university or public college is a univ ...

, and a

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church, ...

(STD) degree in Scripture from the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

. He teaches music, literature and cultural history at the

. Letellier has published more than one hundred articles and books on subjects including the Bible, eighteenth and nineteenth century novels, especially the works of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, and 19th-century music. He is particularly noted for scholarship on the life and works of the composer

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...

. Letellier's four-volume translation of the composer's diaries has been cited as "the most important work on the composer to be published in English to date". He has also published several studies of the composer's operas and other works which have played an important part in the revaluation of Meyerbeer, the most popular composer of the 19th century, whose works fell into almost complete neglect in the 20th but are now being rediscovered.

Select bibliography

As editor and translator: * As author: * ''The English Novel, 1660-1700: An Annotated Bibliography'', Greenwood Publishing Group 1997. *''The Operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer'', Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press 2006. . *''The Ballets of Ludwig Minkus'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2008. . *''An Introduction to the Dramatic Works of Giacomo Meyerbeer: Operas, Ballets, Cantatas, Plays'', Routledge 2008. *''Opera-Comique: A Sourcebook'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2010. . *''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: The Man and His Music'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2010. . * ''Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots: An Evangel of Religion and Love'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2014.. *''Operetta: A Sourcebook I and II'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2015. . *''The Bible in Music'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2017. . *''Giacomo Meyerbeer: A Critical Life and Iconography'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2018. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Letellier, Robert 1953 births Living people People from Durban Music historians South African literary critics 20th-century South African historians 20th-century South African male writers 21st-century South African historians 21st-century South African male writers Rhodes University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Salzburg alumni Academics of the Institute of Continuing Education South African Roman Catholic priests Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni