Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab (13 April 179927 November 1860) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

critic. He was born and died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. He was the son of the

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab. An able pianist, he published articles in various periodicals, including the influential liberal ''

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally-known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

'', and launched the music journal ''Iris im Gebiete der Tonkunst'', which was published in Berlin from 1830 to 1841. His outspoken criticism of the influence in Berlin of

Gaspare Spontini Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era. Biography Born in Maiolati, Papal State (now Maiolati Spontini, Province of Ancona), he spent most of his ...

landed him in jail in 1837. Rellstab had considerable influence as a music critic and, because of this, had some power over what music could be used for German nationalistic purposes in the mid-nineteenth century. Because he had "an effective monopoly on music criticism" in Frankfurt and due to the popularity of his writings, Rellstab's approval would have been important for any musician's career in areas in which German nationalism was present. The first seven songs of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

's ''

Schwanengesang ''Schwanengesang ( Swan Song)'', 957, is a collection of 14 songs written by Franz Schubert at the end of his life and published posthumously: # Liebesbotschaft (text: Ludwig Rellstab) # Kriegers Ahnung (Rellstab) # Frühlingssehnsucht (Rells ...

'' have words by Rellstab, who had left them in 1825 with

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

, whose assistant

Anton Schindler Anton Felix Schindler (13 June 1795 in Medlov – 16 January 1864 in Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)) was an Austrian law clerk and associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven. Life Schindler moved to Vienna in 1813 to s ...

passed them on to Schubert. His work was also set to music by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

.A comprehensive list of texts by Rellstab set to music
He is also known to have given Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2, its famous nickname ''Moonlight Sonata''.

References

1799 births 1860 deaths German poets German music critics Musicians from Berlin People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg German male poets 19th-century poets 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-poet-stub