Georg Goltermann


Georg Eduard Goltermann was a German cellist and composer.

Life

Goltermann was born in Hannover. His father was an organist, and therefore he got an early introduction to music. He received cello lessons from Joseph Menter in München and was noted there for his compositional talents.
In 1852, after briefly touring Europe as a solo cellist, he became music director in Würzburg. In 1853 he accepted an offer to become deputy music director of the municipal theater Stadttheater in Frankfurt am Main, where he was promoted to Kapellmeister in 1874. He died in the same city.

Works

Goltermann composed eight cello concertos, of which the fourth is the most famous. This "student's concerto" is the easiest of his first five concertos, and it is studied fairly widely. His music is rarely performed in professional concerts. It is deemed to lack the musicality of true concertos, and though it has been praised for its melodious and pleasant nature, it is not considered inspired. Instead his concertos are studied by students to learn technique and get a basic understanding of concerto style. Concerto No. 1 was the one most played professionally up to the early 1900s and again after World War I. The slow movement entitled Cantilena was often played separately as a cello solo. An early recording of this movement played by Pablo Casals exists.
Many of Goltermann's shorter works for cello were frequently in the repertoire up to the 1920s.
The fourth concerto is often performed by students due to its relative ease of play. It is divided into 3 movements: