Kayser, Philipp Christoph

views updated

Kayser, Philipp Christoph

Kayser, Philipp Christoph, German composer; b. Frankfurt am Main, March 10, 1755; d. Oberstrass, near Zürich, Dec. 23, 1823. In 1775 he settled in Zürich as a teacher. He wrote music for Goethe’s Singspiel Scherz, List und Rache (1785–86) and incidental music for his drama Egmont (c. 1786-88; not extant). However, Kayser was best known for his songs, of which he wrote more than 100, a number of which were set to texts by Goethe.

Bibliography

C. Burkhardt, Goethe und der Komponist P.C.K. (Leipzig, 1879); E. Refardt, Der Goethe-K. (Zürich, 1950).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire