BeethovenCombining musical insight and the most recent research, William Kinderman's Beethoven is both a richly drawn portrait of the man and a guide to his music. Kinderman traces the composer's intellectual and musical development from the early works written in Bonn to the Ninth Symphony and the late quartets. Throughout, he looks at compositions from different and original perspectives that show Beethoven's art as a union of sensuous and rational, of expression and structure. In analyses of individual pieces, Kinderman shows that the deepening of Beethoven's musical thought was a continuous process over decades of his life. Works discussed include the Joseph Cantata, many of the piano sonatas and variations, selected songs and other vocal pieces, Fidelio, the Missa solemnis, and the main chamber and symphonic music. Certain works, such as the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, are illuminated in relation to Beethoven's personal life, and his response to the political and philosophical currents of his time can be seen in some of his greatest masterpieces. Rather than the conventional image of a heroic and tormented figure, what emerges here is a more complex, more fully rounded account of the composer. Although Beethoven's deafness and his other personal crises are addressed, together with his ever-increasing commitment to his art, so too are the lighter aspects of his personality: his humor, his love of puns, his great delight in juxtaposing the exalted and the commonplace. Combining musical insight and the most recent research, William Kinderman's Beethoven is both a richly drawn portrait of the man and a guide to his music. Kinderman traces the composer's intellectual and musical development from the early works written in Bonn to the Ninth Symphony and the late quartets. Throughout, he looks at compositions from different and original perspectives that show Beethoven's art as a union of sensuous and rational, of expression and structure. In analyses of individual pieces, Kinderman shows that the deepening of Beethoven's musical thought was a continuous process over decades of his life. Works discussed include the Joseph Cantata, many of the piano sonatas and variations, selected songs and other vocal pieces, Fidelio, the Missa solemnis, and the main chamber and symphonic music. Certain works, such as the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, are illuminated in relation to Beethoven's personal life, and his response to the political and philosophical currents of his time can be seen in some of his greatest masterpieces. Rather than the conventional image of a heroic and tormented figure, what emerges here is a more complex, more fully rounded account of the composer. Although Beethoven's deafness and his other personal crises are addressed, together with his ever-increasing commitment to his art, so too are the lighter aspects of his personality: his humor, his love of puns, his great delight in juxtaposing the exalted and the commonplace. |
Contents
The Bonn Years | 15 |
The Path to Mastery 17921798 | 29 |
Crisis and Creativity 17991802 | 53 |
The Heroic Style I 18031806 | 88 |
28 | 94 |
51 | 120 |
Consolidation 18101812 | 141 |
The Congress of Vienna Period 18131815 | 172 |
The Hammerklavier Sonata 18161818 | 190 |
Struggle 18191822 | 213 |
Triumph 18221824 | 239 |
The Galitzin Quartets 18241825 | 286 |
The Last Phase 18261827 | 309 |
367 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adagio aesthetic Allegretto Allegro con brio Andante Antonie Brentano Archduke Trio Arietta artistic ascending bars bass Beethoven's music beginning Bonn C# minor cadence cadenza cantabile character choral finale chord climax coda composer composition context contrast Credo cresc descending Diabelli Variations diminished-seventh dissonant dolce dominant earlier Eb major ensuing Eroica Eroica Symphony expressive F major Fidelio foreshadowing fortissimo fugal fugue gesture Grosse Fuge Hammerklavier Sonata harmonic Haydn later Ludwig van Beethovens lyrical main theme melodic ment Missa solemnis molto motif motivic Mozart narrative Ninth Symphony Oboe octaves opening Allegro orchestral Overture passage pedal phrase Piano Sonata Piano Sonata op pieces pitch Presto recapitulation relationship rhythm rhythmic rondo scherzo Schiller's semitone sempre Sketchbook sketches slow introduction slow movement solo sonata form song sonority String Quartet structure symbolic tempo tension texture Thayer-Forbes thematic tion tonal tonic trill trio troppo Vienna violin Vln.II