Georg Goltermann: A Short Biography

Goltermann may not be known today by more than the cellists who were required to play his Concerto No. 4 in their mid developmental years. However, he was, by all standards of the 19th century a virtuoso cellist touring all over Europe. Goltermann seems to have been attracted to conducting, teaching and composing, which was cause enough to halt his busy playing schedule. As the author Margaret Campbell rather impudently mentions in her book The Great Cellists, Goltermann regretably stopped playing and devoted his entire life to composition, teaching, and conducting, to which he contributed little of lasting, worthwhile music for the cellist to play.

The above paragraph is about half of the all the material I could find on Goltermann using the book mentioned above and searching the internet. Although he was once a fairly played composer his style of simpler, readily accessible music (for the less technically advanced player) has fallen to the wayside. I have found some Nocturnes and other small pieces that do lend themselves to the intermediate student. They are not wholly devoid of creativity or melodic content (melody being the stronger element in his music rather) but certainly are not the creative masterpieces of Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, etc. This makes them perfect candidates for the less technically advanced students to show off their acquired level of proficiency on the cello. In other words, Goltermann's music is just in the niveau where one can appear adept and skilled without straining their limited command of the instrument.

In short, thanks to those cellists who wrote music for every level of learner. In this sense, Goltermann filled a much needed element in the repertoire.