Gisela Selden-Goth

Gisela Schlesinger 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] Her writing and musical compositions were published under the name Gisela Selden-Goth.

Biography

Selden-Goth was born in Budapest to Michael and Rosalia Schlesinger.[6] Her music teachers included Bela Bartok, Ferruccio Busoni, and Istvan Thoman.[4][7] Her piano composition was one of 10 winners (out of 874 submissions) in the 1910 Signals for the Musical World 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 Music Quarterly vol 26 no 2 Apr 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, opus 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]
  • Signals Competition Winner (1910)[8]

Vocal music
  • Book of Monastic Life, opus 44 (text from Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke)[16]
  • Cantata[4]
  • Songs[4]
  • The Pilgrim (baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra)[4]

References
  1. "Universal Edition". www.universaledition.com. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  2. Hixon, Donald L. (1993). Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography. Don A. Hennessee (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
  3. Selden-Goth, Gisela. "New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  4. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (USA). ISBN 978-0-9617485-2-4.
  5. "Gisella Selden-Goth Collection", Performing Arts Encyclopedia, 1726–1940, retrieved 18 Oct 2022
  6. "Gisela Goth". geni_family_tree. 6 June 1884. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  7. Selden Goth, Gisella. "s22". casastefanzweig.org.br. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  8. Blanchet, Emile; Szymanowski, Karol; Gruenberg, Louis; Renner, Willy; Selden-Goth, Gisella; Bonis, Mél; Neitzel, Otto; Nováček, Rudolf; Röntgen, Julius (1910). "Zehn Preiskompositionen für Klavier die beim Preisausschreiben der". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "TRUDY GOTH DIES; WRITER ON DANCE". The New York Times. 1974-05-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  10. Dyment, Christopher (2012). Toscanini in Britain. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-789-3.
  11. "Selden-Goth, Gisella, 1884-1975 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  12. 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.
  13. Selden-Goth, Gisella (1924). "Neue Wege der musikalischen Erziehung". Die Musik vol 16. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  14. "Felix Mendelssohn: Letters, edited by G. Selden-Goth". Commentary Magazine. 1945-11-01. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  15. Loesser, Arthur; Selden-Goth, Gisella (1964). "Ferruccio Busoni". Notes. 21 (3): 362. doi:10.2307/894499. ISSN 0027-4380. JSTOR 894499.
  16. Melos (in German). B. Schott's Söhne. 1920.
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