Beethoven: The Music and the LifeAn authoritative work offering a fresh look at Beethoven’s life, career, and milieu. “Magisterial” —New York Review of Books. 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 |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 23 | |
| 53 | |
The First Years in Vienna | 69 |
Music of the First Vienna Years | 93 |
Years of Crisis | 111 |
Music for and with Piano | 124 |
Music for Orchestra and the First Quartets | 147 |
Music for the Stage | 252 |
The Opera Leonore and Its Overtures 255 The Coriolanus Overture | 262 |
Vocal Music | 269 |
Beethoven at the Keyboard | 280 |
THE FINAL MATURITY | 330 |
Beethovens Inner and Outer Worlds | 349 |
Bringing the Past into the Present | 366 |
Late Piano Music | 377 |
An Overview | 169 |
Beethoven in the New Age | 181 |
New Symphonic Ideals | 202 |
The Mature Concertos | 238 |
The Last Quartets | 441 |
Notes 491 | 490 |
Common terms and phrases
Adagio aesthetic Allegro Andante Archduke artistic autograph B-flat major Bach Beet Beetho Beethoven wrote Bonn Briefwechsel C-major C-minor Cello Sonata chamber music chords coda composer composition contrast Coriolanus deafness dominant E-flat earlier early Eroica exposition F major Fidelio Fifth figure finale Franz French fugal genre German Grand Fugue Hammerklavier harmonic Haydn hoven ideas instrumental Johann Joseph Karl keyboard late later Leonore letter Ludwig Ludwig van Beethoven main theme March melody ment Missa solemnis move Mozart musicians Napoleon Ninth Symphony opening opera Opus 18 Opus 59 orchestral overture passage performance phony phrase pianist Piano Concerto Piano Sonata Piano Sonata Opus Piano Trio play published Quartet Opus rhythmic rondo Scherzo Schindler sketchbook sketches slow movement solo Solomon sonata form song String Quartet style tempo thematic tion tonal tonic variations Vienna Viennese Violin Sonata Waldstein Wegeler Well-Tempered Clavier writing written