Beethoven:Music & Life PA

by Lockwood,Lewis

• ISBN13: 9780393326383
• ISBN10: 0393326381
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-01-17
• Publisher: W W NORTON

Summary

This brilliant portrayal weaves Beethoven's musical and biographical stories into their historical and artistic contexts. Lewis Lockwood sketches the turbulent personal, historical, political, and cultural frameworks in which Beethoven worked and examines their effects on his music. "The result is that rarest of achievements, a profoundly humane work of scholarship that will'”or at least should'”appeal to specialists and generalists in equal measure" (Terry Teachout, Commentary ). Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. "Lewis Lockwood has written a biography of Beethoven in which the hours that Beethoven spent writing music'”that is, his methods of working, his interest in contemporary and past composers, the development of his musical intentions and ideals, his inner musical life, in short'”have been properly integrated with the external events of his career. The book is invaluable." '”Charles Rosen "Lockwood writes with poetry and clarity'”a rare combination. I especially enjoyed the connection that he makes between the works of Beethoven and the social and political context of their creation'”we feel closer to Beethoven the man without losing our wonder at his genius." '”Emanuel Ax "The magnum opus of an illustrious Beethoven scholar. From now on, we will all turn to Lockwood's Beethoven: The Music and the Life for insight and instruction." '”Maynard Solomon "This is truly the Beethoven biography for the intelligent reader. Lewis Lockwood speaks in his preface of writing on Beethoven's works at 'a highly accessible descriptive level.' But he goes beyond that. His discussion of the music, based on a deep knowledge of its context and the composition processes behind it, explains, elucidates, and is not afraid to evaluate; while the biographical chapters, clearly and unfussily written, and taking full account of the newest thinking on Beethoven, align closely with the musical discussion. The result is a deeply perceptive book that comes as close as can be to presenting the man and the music as a unity."'”Stanley Sadie, editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "Impressive for both its scholarship and its fresh insights, this landmark work'”fully accessible to the interested amateur'”immediately takes its place among the essential references on this composer and his music."'”Bob Goldfarb, KUSC-FM 91.5 "Lockwood writes like an angel: lucid, enthusiastic, stirring and enlightening. Beethoven has found his ablest interpreter."'”Jonathan Keates, The Spectator "There is no better survey of Beethoven's compositions for a wide audience."'”Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times Book Review

Table of Contents

Illustrations	xiii
Preface	xv
Prologue. Youth, Maturity, Old Age: Three Letters	3	(22)
1787: The Death of Beethoven's Mother	3	(5)
1812: Letter to a Child	8	(4)
1826: The Old Child	12	(3)
Life and Works	15	(10)
PART ONE: THE EARLY YEARS 1770-1792
1. Beginnings	25	(28)
Bonn as a Musical Center	25	(6)
Bach from the Hands of Neefe	31	(4)
Kant, Schiller, and the Enlightenment	35	(3)
Max Franz and the Mozart Legacy	38	(4)
Family, Friends, and Patrons	42	(4)
To Vienna in Search of Mozart	46	(1)
The Last Years in Bonn	47	(3)
Waldstein's Prophecy	50	(3)
2. Music of the Bonn Years	53	(16)
Early Keyboard Music	53	(2)
"This passage has been stolen from Mozart"	55	(7)
Composing and Sketching	62	(2)
Cantatas for Two Emperors	64	(5)
PART TWO: THE FIRST MATURITY 1792-1802
3. The First Years in Vienna	69	(24)
The Political Atmosphere	69	(4)
Vienna as a Musical Center	73	(1)
Confronting the Viennese Aristocracy	74	(6)
Haydn	80	(6)
Playing for an Elector and a King	86	(2)
Entering the Publishing World	88	(5)
4. Music of the First Vienna Years	93	(18)
Revising Earlier Works	93	(3)
Chamber Music and Piano Sonatas	96	(15)
5. Years of Crisis	111	(13)
Deafness	111	(4)
The Heiligenstadt Testament	115	(9)
6. Music for and with Piano	124	(23)
The "New Way" and the Early Sketchbooks	124	(6)
A Laboratory of Invention: More Piano Sonatas	130	(10)
From Convention to Originality: Piano Variations	140	(2)
New Violin Sonatas	142	(2)
The Earlier Piano Concertos	144	(3)
7. Music for Orchestra and the First Quartets	147	(22)
The First Symphony and the Prometheus Ballet	147	(4)
The French Dimension and Military Music	151	(5)
The Second Symphony	156	(3)
Opus 18: "I have now learned how to write string quartets"	159	(10)
8. The First Maturity: An Overview	169	(12)
PART THREE: THE SECOND MATURITY 1802-1812
9. Beethoven in the New Age	181	(21)
Napoleon and Self-Made Greatness	181	(6)
Beethoven and His Milieu	187	(9)
Relations with Women	196	(6)
10. New Symphonic Ideals	202	(36)
The Heroic and the Beautiful	202	(2)
The Third Symphony (Eroica)	204	(10)
The Fourth Symphony	214	(3)
The Fifth and Sixth ("Pastoral") Symphonies	217	(13)
The Seventh and Eighth Symphonies	230	(8)
11. The Mature Concertos	238	(14)
The New Symphonie concertante: The Triple Concerto	238	(3)
The Fourth Piano Concerto	241	(4)
The Violin Concerto	245	(3)
The "Emperor" Concerto	248	(4)
12. Music for the Stage	252	(17)
The Opera Leonore and Its Overtures	255	(7)
The Coriolanus Overture	262	(4)
Incidental Music for Goethe's Egmont	266	(3)
13. Vocal Music	269	(11)
Oratorio and Mass	269	(5)
The Songs	274	(6)
14. Beethoven at the Keyboard	280	(32)
Improvising and Composing at the Piano	280	(8)
Pianos	288	(4)
The "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" Sonatas	292	(7)
Piano Sonatas Opp. 78-81a	299	(4)
Lyrical and Monumental Chamber Music	303	(9)
15. String Quartets	312	(21)
The "Razumovsky" Quartets	312	(13)
The "Harp" Quartet and the "Quartetto Serioso"	325	(8)
PART FOUR: THE FINAL MATURITY 1813-1827
16. The "Fallow" Years	333	(16)
The Congress of Vienna	334	(2)
Lighter Works	336	(1)
Celebrating Wellington's Victory	337	(4)
Fidelio	341	(1)
New Sonatas	342	(2)
An die ferne Geliebte	344	(2)
Emergence of the Late Style	346	(3)
17. Beethoven's Inner and Outer Worlds	349	(17)
Isolation and Deafness	349	(6)
The Guardianship Struggle	355	(3)
"The human brain...is not a salable commodity"	358	(5)
The Final Projects	363	(3)
18. Bringing the Past into the Present	366	(11)
The Third Maturity	366	(4)
Beethoven's Knowledge of Bach and Handel	370	(7)
19. Late Piano Music	377	(23)
The Hammerklavier Sonata, Opus 106	377	(7)
Piano Sonatas Opp. 109-111	384	(7)
The "Diabelli" Variations	391	(4)
The Late Bagatelles	395	(5)
20. The Celestial and the Human	400	(41)
The Missa solemnis	400	(11)
The Ninth Symphony	411	(2)
The Political Background of the Ninth	413	(4)
Changing Views of the Ninth	417	(7)
Composing the Ninth	424	(3)
The Character of the Ninth	427	(14)
21. Timeless Music: The Last Quartets	441	(50)
Introduction	441	(5)
Opus 127	446	(6)
Opus 132	452	(6)
Opus 130 and the Grand Fugue	458	(10)
Opus 131	468	(11)
Opus 135	479	(9)
Final Thoughts	488	(3)
Notes	491	(60)
Chronology	551	(8)
Bibliography	559	(20)
Classified Index of Beethoven's Works	579	(6)
Index of Beethoven's Works by Opus Number	585	(6)
General Index	591