Accompanied by a booklet of music examples (108 p.: ill.; 21 cm.).

Compiled here are reviews, reports, notes, and essays found in German-language periodicals published between 1783 and 1830. The documents are translated into English with copious notes and annotations, an introductory essay, and indexes of names, subjects, and works. This volume contains a general section and documents on specific opus numbers up to opus 54, with musical examples redrawn from the original publications. ø The collection brings to light contemporary perceptions of Beethoven?s music, including matters such as audience, setting, facilities, orchestra, instruments, and performers as well as the relationship of Beethoven?s music to theoretical and critical ideas of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These documents, most of which appear in English for the first time, present a wide spectrum of insights into the perceptions that Beethoven?s contemporaries had of his monumental music.

Ludwig Van Beethoven's nine symphonies stand as towering masterworks at the core of the classical canon. In Beethoven's hands, the symphony expanded dramatically in scope and power in a way that would revolutionise both the form itself and music in general. The impact of Beethoven's nine was such that composers long after him would write their own symphonies in his shadow. In this book, acclaimed Pianist and critic John Bell Young explores each of the nine symphonies, always looking beneath the surface for what makes the music so compelling. He places them in their historical and cultural context, and he describes how the Russian concept of intonatsiia, a way of perceiving relationships "between the notes," can help deepen our appreciation of these pieces. The accompanying CD contains selections from all of the symphonies, each performance conducted by the legendary Wilhelm Furtwangler.

“[Beethoven’s] music never grows old— and, enjoyed alongside Mr. Lockwood’s expert commentary, it sparkles with fresh magic.”—Wall Street Journal More than any other composer, Beethoven left to posterity a vast body of material that documents the early stages of almost everything he wrote. From this trove of sketchbooks, Lewis Lockwood draws us into the composer’s mind, unveiling a creative process of astonishing scope and originality. For musicians and nonmusicians alike, Beethoven’s symphonies stand at the summit of artistic achievement, loved today as they were two hundred years ago for their emotional cogency, variety, and unprecedented individuality. Beethoven labored to complete nine of them over his lifetime—a quarter of Mozart’s output and a tenth of Haydn’s—yet no musical works are more iconic, more indelibly stamped on the memory of anyone who has heard them. They are the products of an imagination that drove the composer to build out of the highest musical traditions of the past something startlingly new. Lockwood brings to bear a long career of studying the surviving sources that yield insight into Beethoven’s creative work, including concept sketches for symphonies that were never finished. From these, Lockwood offers fascinating revelations into the historical and biographical circumstances in which the symphonies were composed. In this compelling story of Beethoven’s singular ambition, Lockwood introduces readers to the symphonies as individual artworks, broadly tracing their genesis against the backdrop of political upheavals, concert life, and their relationship to his major works in other genres. From the first symphonies, written during his emerging deafness, to the monumental Ninth, Lockwood brings to life Beethoven’s lifelong passion to compose works of unsurpassed beauty.

Bach: Concerto in D minor for one clavier * Concerto in F minor for one clavier * Concerto in C Major for two claviers * Concerto in C minor for two claviers * Concerto in D minor for three claviers * Concerto in C Major for three claviers * Concerto in A minor for four claviers. Beethoven: Concerto No. 1 in C (Op. 15) * Concerto No. 2 in B-flat (Op. 19) * Concerto No. 3 in C minor * Concerto No. 4 in G (Op. 58) * Concerto No. 5 in E-flat (Op. 73). Brahms: Concerto in D minor (Op. 15) * Concerto in B-flat (Op. 83).

The ten essays in this volume explore different aspects of the performance of instrumental works by Beethoven. Each essay discusses performance issues from Beethoven's time to the present, whether the objective be to realise a performance in an historically appropriate manner, to elucidate the interpretation of Beethoven's music by conductors and performers, to clarify transcriptions by editors or to reconstruct the experience of the listener in various different periods. Four contributions focus on the piano music while another group concentrates on Beethoven's music for strings. These chapters are complemented by an examination of Beethoven's exploitation of the developing wind choir, an evaluation of early twentieth-century recordings as pointers to early nineteenth-century performance practice and an historical survey of rescorings in Beethoven's symphonies.

Veteran music critic David Hurwitz provides an accessible, comprehensive, and fresh survey of Beethoven’s symphonies, overtures, concertos, theatrical music, his single ballet and other music for the dance, and several short pieces worth getting to know. Beethoven’s orchestral works include some of the most iconic and popular pieces of classical music ever written. This book offers chapters on Beethoven’s handling of the symphony orchestra and his contributions to its evolution, as well as his approach to musical form in creating large, multi-movement works. The musical descriptions provide helpful strategies for listening that invite both beginners and experienced enthusiasts to treat even the best known pieces as something fresh, new and relevant. In addition, Hurwitz provides extensive lists of recommended recordings of all of the music surveyed, highlighting the wide range of issues in Beethoven interpretation and performance, as well as the history of his music. He encourages readers to listen actively and critically, as they build their own Beethoven discographies according to their personal tastes and preferences. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks of Beethoven works selected by Hurwitz.