Carl Friedrich Zelter

Who was Carl Friedrich Zelter?

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his father's bricklaying business, Zelter attained mastership in that profession, and was a musical autodidact.

Zelter was born and died in Berlin. He 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 and piano music.

Amongst Zelter's pupils were Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn Giacomo Meyerbeer, Eduard Grell, Otto Nicolai, Johann Friedrich Naue, 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.