Max Kalbeck was a close friend and partisan of Johannes Brahms. Kalbeck's principal achievement was his eight-volume biography of that composer, published from 1904 to 1914, which has never been translated into English. Kalbeck also edited several volumes of Brahms's correspondence and in 1918, the letters of the poets Gottfried Keller and Paul Heyse, as well as publishing two collections of his own music reviews. Kalbeck wrote new libretti for Mozart's "Bastien und Bastienne" and "La finta giardiniera"; and he revised those of "Don Giovanni" and "The Marriage of Figaro" for Gustav Mahler's productions at the Vienna Hofoper. In addition, he supplied
Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera is a comic opera in one act by David T. Little to a libretto by Royce Vavrek. Commissioned for the Bard College Conservatory of Music Orchestra, the world premiere of "Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera" was presented at the Richard B. Fisher Center on February 26, 2010 performed by students in Bard's graduate vocal performance program with James Bagwell conducting. Dan Rigazzi provided stage direction. A new chamber version of the opera was commissioned by Opera Saratoga in 2017, to be premiered at their summer 2018 festival. The opera is