Johannes Haller und Karl Straube. Eine Freundschaft im Spiegel der Briefe

The historian Johannes Haller (1865–1947) and the Cantor of St Thomas’s church in Leipzig Karl Straube (1873–1950) are in their different spheres among the most influential German intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century. While Haller’s multi-volume work on the Papacy, „Das Papsttum. Idee und Wirklichkeit“ is still valued today as a grandiose achievement, Straube played a significant role in the revival of church music in the first third of the 20th century. It is therefore a fortunate chance that some 60 letters survive from the long correspondence between the two friends; some, as in the case of Haller’s letters were completely unknown, while others have never been published. Now they have been made available to an interested audience in a richly annotated edition with a well-informed introduction. The correspondence concerns both private and professional life; music, which was close to both their hearts; the work of the historian; and also classical literature and newly-published books. Everyday politics is always present in the background. Haller’s words in particular about the military situation and the future of Germany towards the end of the Second World War are both fanciful and nightmarish. Because the two friends were consummate masters of the art of letter-writing, this edition is not only of significance for the history of art but also a stylistic pleasure.