Beethoven S Ninth

Author : Esteban Buch
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Music
ISBN : 0226078248

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Beethoven's Ninth by Esteban Buch Pdf

Who hasn't been stirred by the strains of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony? That's a good question, claims Esteban Buch. German nationalists and French republicans, communists and Catholics have all, in the course of history, embraced the piece. It was performed under the direction of Leonard Bernstein at a concert to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall, yet it also serves as a ghastly and ironic leitmotif in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Hitler celebrated his birthdays with it, and the government of Rhodesia made it their anthem. And played in German concentration camps by the imprisoned, it also figured prominently at Mitterand's 1981 investiture. In his remarkable history of one of the most popular symphonic works of the modern period, Buch traces such complex and contradictory uses—and abuses—of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony since its premier in 1824. Buch shows that Beethoven consciously drew on the tradition of European political music, with its mix of sacred and profane, military and religious themes, when he composed his symphony. But while Beethoven obviously had his own political aspirations for the piece—he wanted it to make a statement about ideal power—he could not have had any idea of the antithetical political uses, nationalist and universalist, to which the Ninth Symphony has been put since its creation. Buch shows us how the symphony has been "deployed" throughout nearly two centuries, and in the course of this exploration offers what was described by one French reviewer as "a fundamental examination of the moral value of art." Sensitive and fascinating, this account of the tangled political existence of a symphony is a rare book that shows the life of an artwork through time, shifted and realigned with the currents of history.

Author : Harvey Sachs
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-08
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780812969078

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The Ninth by Harvey Sachs Pdf

The premier of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Vienna on May 7, 1824, was the most significant artistic event of the year—and the work remains one of the most precedent-shattering and influential compositions in the history of music. Described in vibrant detail by eminent musicologist Harvey Sachs, this symbol of freedom and joy was so unorthodox that it amazed and confused listeners at its unveiling—yet it became a standard for subsequent generations of creative artists, and its composer came to embody the Romantic cult of genius. In this unconventional, provocative book, Beethoven’s masterwork becomes a prism through which we may view the politics, aesthetics, and overall climate of the era. Part biography, part history, part memoir, The Ninth brilliantly explores the intricacies of Beethoven’s last symphony—how it brought forth the power of the individual while celebrating the collective spirit of humanity.

Author : Theodore Albrecht
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2024-02-20
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781837651054

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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by Theodore Albrecht Pdf

Brings to life the day-to-day details of staging the premiere of one the most iconic works of Western classical music. The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven with its final choral movement is one of the iconic works of Western classical music. And yet, the story never fully told concerns the months leading to the symphony's world premiere in Vienna on 7 May and repeat performance on 23 May 1824. In his new book, Theodore Albrecht brings to life the day-to-day details that it took to stage that premiere. It's a story of negotiating for performance halls and performers' payments, of hand-copying legible scores and individual parts for over 120 performers, of finding financiers, as well as space and time for rehearsals. Importantly, it is also a story of the relationship between Beethoven and the musicians who performed this symphonic masterpiece. In fact, as the maddening rehearsal schedule towards the symphony's premiere shows, it transpires that many passages of the Ninth have been tailored to specific orchestral players. Many modern-day musicians will recognize familiar situations in rehearsals, many scholars and students will relish unprecedented new detail. All this comes to the fore by reconstructing the story drawing on the (almost) deaf composer's Conversation Books which Beethoven had been using since 1818. In the performance story of the Ninth Symphony's premiere, Albrecht makes full use of these invaluable documents, which are now being translated for the first time into English in a series of 12 volumes published by the Boydell Press. THEODORE ALBRECHT, Professor Emeritus of Music at Kent State University, Ohio, is an award-winning Beethoven scholar. He has authored many important articles on the composer and is the editor of Letters to Beethoven and Other Correspondence (1996) as well as translator and editor of Beethoven's Conversation Books (Boydell Press).

Author : Christopher Alan Reynolds
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2015-04-24
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780520960978

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Wagner, Schumann, and the Lessons of Beethoven's Ninth by Christopher Alan Reynolds Pdf

In this original study, Christopher Alan Reynolds examines the influence of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on two major nineteenth-century composers, Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann. During 1845–46 the compositional styles of Schumann and Wagner changed in a common direction, toward a style that was more contrapuntal, more densely motivic, and engaged in processes of thematic transformation. Reynolds shows that the stylistic advances that both composers made in Dresden in 1845–46 stemmed from a deepened understanding of Beethoven’s techniques and strategies in the Ninth Symphony. The evidence provided by their compositions from this pivotal year and the surrounding years suggests that they discussed Beethoven’s Ninth with each other in the months leading up to the performance of this work, which Wagner conducted on Palm Sunday in 1846. Two primary aspects that appear to have interested them both are Beethoven’s use of counterpoint involving contrary motion and his gradual development of the "Ode to Joy" melody through the preceding movements. Combining a novel examination of the historical record with careful readings of the music, Reynolds adds further layers to this argument, speculating that Wagner and Schumann may not have come to these discoveries entirely independently of each other. The trail of influences that Reynolds explores extends back to the music of Bach and ahead to Tristan and Isolde, as well as to Brahms’s First Symphony.

Author : David Benjamin Levy
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2003-01-01
Category : Reference
ISBN : 0300099649

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Beethoven by David Benjamin Levy Pdf

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a masterpiece that has influenced virtually every Western composer since its premiere, has become associated with the marking of momentous public occasions. In 1989, Chinese students played its finale through loudspeakers in Tiananmen Square, and Leonard Bernstein led a performance in Berlin to celebrate the razing of the Berlin Wall. This lively and up-to-date book focuses on Beethoven's Ninth, exploring the cultural and musical meanings that surround this powerful work of genius. David B. Levy sets the scene with a brief survey of nineteenth-century Germanic culture and society, then analyzes the Ninth symphony in detail with special emphasis on the famous choral finale. He discusses the initial performances in 1824 under Beethoven's direction and traces the symphony's critical reception and legacy. In the final chapter of the book, Levy examines interpretations of the work by prominent conductors, including Wagner, Mahler, and Weingartner. A fully annotated discography of selected recordings completes this comprehensive volume.

Author : Hector Berlioz
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Music
ISBN : 0252069420

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A Critical Study of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies with a Few Words on His Trios and Sonatas, a Criticism of Fidelio, and an Introductory Essay on Music by Hector Berlioz Pdf

A daring composer in his own right, Hector Berlioz made a considerable reputation and a modest living for himself writing about music. This compact volume gathers brief, pithy essays Berlioz wrote on Beethoven's nine symphonies, his opera, Fidelio, and his piano sonatas and trios. Berlioz vividly depicts the salient features of the music with observations that are acute and passionate, as valuable for musicians as for amateurs. Beyond its astute commentary on the music, however, Berlioz's book offers a rare firsthand look at the reception and reputation accorded Beethoven's music in the decades following his death. Berlioz transcribes the comments of amateurs leaving the conservatoire after a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and provides a mocking glimpse of the French appreciation of the great German composer: What stands in the way of the music of 'Fidelio' as regards the Parisian public is ... the great disdain of the composer for sonorous effects which are not justified. He addresses Beethoven's skillful use of the orchestra as an instrument of drama and the general disapprobation that greeted this approach. He also includes a satirical piece on the fad of calling up the spirit of a composer and transcribing new, posthumous compositions. Berlioz's essays testify to the tumult caused by Beethoven's music in his time and offer ways to approach the music that remain enlightening and fresh.

Author : Nicholas Cook
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1993-06-24
Category : Music
ISBN : 0521399246

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Beethoven by Nicholas Cook Pdf

Nicholas Cook's guide charts the dramatic transformation in the reception of Symphony No. 9.

Author : Alessandra Comini
Publisher : Sunstone Press
Page : 498 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780865346611

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The Changing Image of Beethoven by Alessandra Comini Pdf

In this unique study of the myth-making process across two centuries, Comini examines the contradictory imagery of Beethoven in contemporary verbal accounts, and in some 200 paintings, prints, sculptures, and monuments.

Author : Alexander Rehding
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780190299705

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Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 by Alexander Rehding Pdf

When a professional states, "Your child has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)," it is enough to make your whole world fall apart. What does it mean to be on the autism spectrum? How will this affect your child's life, your life, the life of your family, and others you interact with? What sorts of medications, therapies, and alternative methods are used to help manage the disorder? What are the financial and legal ramifications? How will this affect schooling, your spiritual growth, and everyday life? These are just a few of the questions that will rapidly cross your mind. Caring for Autism: Practical Advice from a Parent and Physician delves into all these questions and more. As the father of a daughter with ASD and as a trained psychiatrist who specializes in ASD, Dr. Michael A. Ellis provides a holistic view of what comes after diagnosis. In user-friendly tones, he answers the most commonly asked questions about what it's actually like to live with ASD, what medications and therapies are available, and the global impact it has on the child's environment. With the help of his wife, Lori Layton Ellis, to provide a mother's perspective, Dr. Ellis shares personal stories of their 10-year journey in order to provide insight and support for anyone - patient, parent, caregiver - traversing the difficulties of autism.

Author : Mark Evan Bonds,Elaine Sisman
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1999-01-01
Category : Music
ISBN : 0803212925

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Beethoven Forum by Mark Evan Bonds,Elaine Sisman Pdf

The essays in this volume grew out of an international Beethoven conference held in honor of Lewis Lockwood at Harvard University in 1996. Michelle Fillion?s opening essay explores the Mass in C and its turn away from the ?heroic? style of the ?middle-period? works. In ?Beethoven and the Aesthetic State,? Karol Berger reflects on the manner in which the composer?s music often shifts back and forth between a ?real? and an ?imagined? world. William Drabkin examines the role of the cello part in Beethoven's late quartets, particularly in regard to the elusive parameter of texture. Richard Kramer?s reading of the song Resignation (1818) opens new perspectives on the idea of a ?late? style in the composer?s output. ø In ?Beethoven's ?Expressive? Markings,? Leo Treitler demonstrates how seemingly straightforward directions to performers about tempo, mood, or dynamics raise fundamental questions about the relationship between music and language. Michael C. Tusa reviews more than a century of attempts to relate form and content in the last movement of the Ninth Symphony and offers a new interpretation on the idea of the choral finale as a kind of four-movement symphony in its own right. Maynard Solomon?s essay on the ?Diabelli? variations argues that the theme itself, although simple, is by no means trivial and indeed is ?perfectly suited to unpacking issues of firstness and lastness and their interchangeability.? William Drabkin concludes the volume with a review essay on Beethoven: Interpretationen seiner Werke, edited by Albrecht Riethm_ller, Carl Dahlhaus, and Alexander Ringer.

Author : Christopher Reynolds,Lewis Lockwood,James Webster
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1992-01-01
Category : Music
ISBN : 0803239068

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Beethoven Forum by Christopher Reynolds,Lewis Lockwood,James Webster Pdf

This inaugural volume of Beethoven Forum presents the work of ten leading scholars who focus on an array of matters that clearly illustrate the vitality of current thought on Beethoven. Scott Burnham leads off the collection with a discussion of the reception of Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica, a composition that continues to spur new interpretations. In succeeding chapters James Webster analyzes the formal sophistication of Beethoven's most influential and idiosyncratic creation, the last movement of his Ninth Symphony; Roger Kamien and William Kinderman examine piano sonatas; David Smyth and Richard Kramer investigate string quartets; Robert Freeman discusses his discovery of previously unknown cadenzas for Beethoven's piano concertos; Theodore Albrecht relates Beethoven's reading of Shakespeare to Beethoven's own life, and both to the "Tempest" Sonata; and Nicholas Marston uses Barry Cooper's recent work on Beethoven as the basis for a consideration of value of sketch studies. In an especially innovating article Julia Moore discusses the economic forces that shaped Beethoven's career. An annual series, Beethoven Forum will serve as an international venue for articles, notes, queries, critical exchanges, and reviews.

Author : Stephen Rumph
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2004-08-15
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780520930124

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Beethoven after Napoleon by Stephen Rumph Pdf

In this provocative analysis of Beethoven's late style, Stephen Rumph demonstrates how deeply political events shaped the composer's music, from his early enthusiasm for the French Revolution to his later entrenchment during the Napoleonic era. Impressive in its breadth of research as well as for its devotion to interdisciplinary work in music history, Beethoven after Napoleon challenges accepted views by illustrating the influence of German Romantic political thought in the formation of the artist's mature style. Beethoven's political views, Rumph argues, were not quite as liberal as many have assumed. While scholars agree that the works of the Napoleonic era such as the Eroica Symphony or Fidelio embody enlightened, revolutionary ideals of progress, freedom, and humanism, Beethoven's later works have attracted less political commentary. Rumph contends that the later works show clear affinities with a native German ideology that exalted history, religion, and the organic totality of state and society. He claims that as the Napoleonic Wars plunged Europe into political and economic turmoil, Beethoven's growing antipathy to the French mirrored the experience of his Romantic contemporaries. Rumph maintains that Beethoven's turn inward is no pessimistic retreat but a positive affirmation of new conservative ideals.

Author : Donald Francis Tovey
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1928
Category : Symphony
ISBN : UOM:39015009613020

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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in D Minor (op. 125) by Donald Francis Tovey Pdf

Author : Christopher Alan Reynolds
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2015-04-24
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780520285569

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Wagner, Schumann, and the Lessons of Beethoven's Ninth by Christopher Alan Reynolds Pdf

"Reynolds shows that the stylistic advances made by Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann in 1845-46 stemmed from a deepened understanding of Beethoven's techniques and strategies in the Ninth Symphony, particularly the use of counterpoint involving contrary motion. The trail of influences that Reynolds explores extends back to the music of Bach and ahead to Tristan and Isolde, as well as to Brahms's First Symphony."--Provided by publisher.

Author : Klaus Kropfinger
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 1991-07-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0521342015

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Wagner and Beethoven by Klaus Kropfinger Pdf

This book analyzes the lifelong impact of Beethoven's music on Wagner and its importance for his conception of music drama. Kropfinger charts and scrutinizes Wagner's early responses to the composer and considers his experience as a conductor of Beethoven's music. A discussion of the Romantic "Beethoven image" leads to a careful study of Wagner's aesthetic writings, including his "programmatic explanations," the text "Concerning Franz Liszt's symphonic poems," and his Beethoven centenary essay. The penultimate chapter addresses Wagner's theory and practice of music drama, which he came to regard as the preordained successor to the Beethoven symphony. By analyzing special terms--such as "Leitmotiv"--Wagner's structural view of musical drama comes to the fore; it is a view that deepens not only our understanding of musical drama as a "hybrid" genre of art but also of purely musical structure and forms that Wagner sought to outdo.