Beethoven

by Adorno, Theodor W.; Tiedemann, Rolf; Jephcott, Edmund

• ISBN13: 9780804747110
• ISBN10: 0804747113
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

Beethoven is a classic study of the composer's music, written by one of the most important thinkers of our time. Throughout his life, Adorno wrote extensive notes, essay fragments and aides-memoires on the subject of Beethoven's music. This book brings together all of Beethoven's music in relation to the society in which he lived. Adorno identifies three periods in Beethoven's work, arguing that the thematic unity of the first and second periods begins to break down in the third. Adorno follows this progressive disintegration of organic unity in the classical music of Beethoven and his contemporaries, linking it with the rationality and monopolistic nature of modern society. Beethoven will be welcomed by students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines - philosophy, sociology, music and history - and by anyone interested in the life of the composer.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xiii
Prelude	3	(7)
Music and Concept	10	(19)
Society	29	(20)
Tonality	49	(11)
Form and the Reconstruction of Form	60	(15)
Critique	75	(6)
The Early and `Classical' Phases	81	(20)
Vers une analyse des symphonies	101	(22)
The Late Style (I)	123	(15)
Late Work without Late Style	138	(16)
The Late Style (II)	154	(8)
Humanity and Demythologization	162	(17)
Appendices	179	(16)
Abbreviations	195	(2)
Editor's Notes	197	(52)
Editorial Afterword	249	(4)
Comparative Table of Fragments	253	(6)
Thematic Summary of Contents	259	(4)
Indexes	263