Theodor Helm

Theodor Otto Helm (April 9, 1843 in Vienna – December 25, 1920 Vienna) was an Austrian music critic and writer.

Theodor Otto Helm was a leading figure in Viennese musical life and a prominent music critic in Vienna for fifty years (1866–1916). While Helm specialized in criticism of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Antonín Dvořák, he also wrote on younger composers including Béla Bartók and Gustav Mahler, and Arnold Schoenberg. Heavily involved in the Vienna music scene, including the Wiener Akademischer Wagner Verein, Helm counted both Bruckner and Brahms as close acquaintances.

In 1853 Theodor Helm began his studies at the Schotten Gymnasium der Benediktiner in Vienna. He eventually focused his efforts on studying law. Helm received his PhD in 1870. He taught as an instructor of the history of music and aesthetics at the Conservatory Horakschen beginning in 1874. In 1900 he was named professor.

Helm began his writing career in Vienna's Neues Fremdenblatt in 1867. He continued his essays and music criticisms in Musikalisches Wochenblatt, a Leipzig weekly, (1870–1905) and continued with the paper when subsumed by the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'.'

Helm's greatest work is arguably his 1885 "Beethovens Streichquartette: Versuch einer technischen Analyse dieser Werke im Zusammenhange mit ihren geistigen Gehalt" (Leipzig, 1885) . This analysis of Beethoven's string Quartets is considered seminal work and has been reprinted many times by publishers across the world.

He contributed freelance writings to Pestor Lloyd (a German newspaper issued in Budapest) and the Viennese Salonblatt and the Deutsche Zeitung" (1884–1901)

While initially critical of Bruckner's work, in 1883 Helm converted in his views and became one of Bruckner's strongest advocates, penning dozens of glowing reviews throughout the rest of Bruckner's life. Bruckner and Helm regularly corresponded between 1883 until Bruckner's death in 1896. Often Bruckner was seeking a favorable review from Helm in "Deutsche Zeitung," albeit second hand account, of a non-Vienna venue concert. On occasion Bruckner visited Helm at his home III. Rochusgasse 10 in Vienna to visit and go over his symphonic scores with Helm. Bruckner showed appreciation for Helm's appreciation of his work by sending him a case of his favorite wine along with a letter of gratitude.

...
Wikipedia