Gisella Selden-Goth
Gisella Selden-Goth (6 June 1884 – 5 September 1975)[1] was a Hungarian author, composer[2] and musicologist who became an American citizen in 1939.[3] She composed at least four string quartets[4] and donated her large collection of original music manuscripts to the Library of Congress.[5]
Biography
Selden-Goth was born in Budapest to Michael and Rosalia Schlesinger.[6] Her music teachers included Béla Bartók, Ferruccio Busoni, and István Thomán.[4][7] Her set of piano compositions, Vier Präludien, was one of 10 winners (out of 874 submissions) in the 1910 Signale für die musikalische Welt competition in Germany.[8] She married Ernst Goth and they had a daughter, Trudy Goth, who became a dancer and journalist.[9]
Selden-Goth lived in Berlin and Florence, Italy, before emigrating to America in 1938. She returned to Florence in 1950 and remained there until her death in 1975. She served as a music critic for newspapers in Berlin, Prague, Switzerland, and Budapest, most notably for Prager Tagblatt, a German newspaper in Prague.[7] She also wrote books about Busoni and Arturo Toscanini and edited a collection of Felix Mendelssohn's letters.[4][10] She maintained a lengthy correspondence with the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, often discussing their mutual interest in collecting original music scores. After Zweig's suicide, Selden-Goth commented that, "A chamber group in a house or the opportunity to hear a good orchestra might have relieved the tension of that mind tortured by personal forebodings and by the vision of mankind in agony."[7] She also corresponded with composer Ernest Bloch and musicologist Hans Moldenhauer.[11]
Selden-Goth's music is published today by Universal Edition.[4] Her prose works and musical compositions include:
Selected literary publications
Articles
- "A New Collection of Music Manuscripts in the United States", The Musical Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 2, April 1940[12]
- "Neue Wege der musikalischen Erziehung" [New Ways in Music Education], Die Musik, vol. 16, 1924[13]
Bibliography
- Arturo Toscanini (edited by Selden-Goth)[10]
- Felix Mendelssohn: Letters (edited by Selden-Goth)[14]
- Ferruccio Busoni: Der Versuch eines Porträts [Ferruccio Busoni: An Attempt at a Portrait][15]
Selected music works
Chamber music
- Quintet, Op. 35 (for strings)[16]
- String Quartets No. 1, 2, 3, and 4[4]
- String Trio[4]
- Suite for Violin and Piano[4]
Piano
- Prelude and Fugue for Two Pianos (1956)[4]
- Vier Präludien, Signale competition winner (1910)[8]
Vocal music
- Vom mönchischen Leben [Of Monastic Life], Op. 44, song cycle (text from The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke)[16]
- Cantata[4]
- Songs[4]
- The Pilgrim (baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra)[4]
References
- ^ "Works by Gisella Selden-Goth". Universal Edition. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Hixon, Donald L.; Hennessee, Don A. (1993). Women in Music : An Encyclopedic Biobibliography (2nd ed.). Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. p. [page needed]. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
- ^ "Selden-Goth, Gisela, New York, U.S.". State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794–1943. Retrieved 18 October 2022 – via ancestry.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Vol. 2. Books & Music (USA). p. 632. ISBN 978-0-9617485-2-4. Retrieved 27 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Gisella Selden-Goth Collection", Library of Congress, retrieved 27 July 2024
- ^ "Gisela Goth". geni.com. 6 June 1884. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
- ^ a b c "Gisella Selden-Goth". casastefanzweig.org.br. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ a b Ten prize winning compositions (69 pages of music), 1910, hdl:1802/2419
- ^ "Trudy Goth Dies; Writer On Dance". The New York Times. 14 May 1974. p. 40. Retrieved 27 July 2024. facsimile
- ^ a b Dyment, Christopher (2012). Toscanini in Britain. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-789-3.
- ^ "Selden-Goth, Gisella, 1884–1975". Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC). Retrieved 18 October 2022.
- ^ Selden-Goth, Gisella (1940). "A New Collection of Music Manuscripts in the United States". The Musical Quarterly. 26 (2): 175–185. doi:10.1093/mq/XXVI.2.175. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 738845.
- ^ Selden-Goth, Gisella (1924). "Neue Wege der musikalischen Erziehung". Die Musik. Vol. 16. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
- ^ "Felix Mendelssohn: Letters, edited by G. Selden-Goth". Commentary. 1 November 1945. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
- ^ Loesser, Arthur (Summer 1964). "Gisella Selden-Goth: Ferruccio Busoni". Notes. Second Series. 21 (3): 362–364. doi:10.2307/894499. ISSN 0027-4380. JSTOR 894499.
- ^ a b Wilhelm Altmann (1920). "Wichtige neue Musikalien, Bücher und Aufsätze über Musik". Melos [de] (in German). B. Schott's Söhne.