Gustav Kobbé

Gustav Kobbé (1857–1918) was an American music critic and author. Born in New York and educated in Germany and at Columbia, where he studied law, he wrote music criticism for New York newspapers for many years and contributed to magazines on music and the arts. His books include Wagner's Life and Works, Opera Singers and How to Appreciate Music. He died in 1918 when a seaplane struck his sailboat on Great South Bay, Long Island, leaving his Complete Opera Book unpublished; it appeared the following year and, revised by later editors, has remained a standard guide to the stories and music of the operatic repertory.