Max Kalbeck

He became one of the most influential critics in Austria and was bitterly opposed to the music of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Hugo Wolf.

He came to Vienna in 1880 on the invitation of Eduard Hanslick, first as critic of the Allgemeine Zeitung and then, from 1886 till his death, of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt.

Kalbeck also edited several volumes of Brahms's correspondence and in 1918, the letters of the poets Gottfried Keller and Paul Heyse, as well as publishing two collections of his music reviews.

Kalbeck wrote new libretti for Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and La finta giardiniera; and he revised those of Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro for Gustav Mahler's productions at the Vienna Hofoper.

In addition, he supplied lyrics for the songs in the operetta Jabuka by Johann Strauss II, the dialogue and plot being the work of Gustav Davis.