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Beethoven Lecturenotes
Beethoven: Between History and Myth (University of Oxford)
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Beethoven: Between History and Myth (Lecture notes)
Recent literature (associated with 250th anniversary)
- Lewis Lockwod: Beethoven’s Lives
- Jan Caeyers’ Beethoven A Life
- Mark Evan Bonds (two books on Beethoven)
- Laura Tunbridge’s Beethoven A Life in Nine Pieces
Aims and Structure of the Course
- Beethoven’s musical life and the mythical status he acquired in cultural history
- Cultural, political, and ethical values associations of his music; what do these
associations tell us about the times in which they prospered?
- Critical approach relating Beethoven’s legacy
- How did Beethoven the man become Beethoven the icon, and why?
- A primarily historical approach, not focused on the analysis of Beethoven’s works
- We will look at the major works (Symphonies, Fidelio)
1. Introduction: Rethinking Beethoven’s Biography
2. Beethoven and Historiography
3. Beethoven and Philosophy
4. Beethoven and Politics
5. Beethoven and Academia
6. Beethoven and Pop culture (+Essay surgery)
Beethoven’s Biography: Some Glimpses
- See slides for literature on his life and works (first one is the Kerman, Tyson,
Burnham, Johnson and Drabkin – a very good summary); Cambridge Companion also
good, as well as Solomon’s important biography (revised edition)
Vienna
- Uncertainty about Beethoven’s age (especially in his youth)
- Relationships between Beethoven and Mozart, and Beethoven and Haydn
Beethoven’s musical teachers in Vienna
- Haydn
- Salieri
- Johann Baptist Schenk
- Johann Georg Albrechtberger
Major works
- Pathetique (1798)
- String Quartet op. 18 (1798-1800)
- First Symphony (1800)
Beethoven’s patrons
- Beethoven always very much supported by patrons:
o Bonn: Count Waldstein, Archduke Max Franz
o Vienna: Prince Lichnowsky, Baron von Swieten (see DeNora, Beethoven and
Construction of Genius), Archduke Rudolph…etc.
Beethoven’s health
Downloaded by olinder seth ()
, lOMoARcPSD|59658805
- Hearing problems: initially hopeful that he would regain hearing abilities; but it
became more obvious that he might not recover (evident in letter from 1801)
- The Heiligenstadt testament: an extremely important biographical document
Some major works from the ‘middle/ heroic’ style
- Waldstein sonata (1804)
- Eroica Symphony (1804)
- Appasionnata (1804)
- Fidelio (1805)
- Razumowsky String Quartets (1807).
- Fifth Symphony
- Egmont overture
- Archduke
Major works from the ‘late’period
- Late piano sonatas
- Hammerklavier
- Missa Solemnis
- Diabelli Variations
- Ninth Symphony
- Galtzin String Quartets
- Great
Crises in Beethoven’s life
- Deafness and mental illness
- Political situation in Vienna:
o 1805 and 1809: Battle of Wagram, Vienna taken by French Empire
o Hapsburg empire
- Karl Franz van Beethoven
o Beethoven fought his mother for custody of his nephew; in 1820 the legal
battle was successful, but in 1826 Karl Franz attempted suicide
(Had to leave 20 mins early for meeting, look at Panopto slides – lectures will be recorded!!)
Lecture 2: Beethoven and Historiography
Beethoven’s Biographers
- Romanticised aspects of Beethoven’s early reception
- The idea that Beethoven’s music is not just about his own struggles, but that it says
something broader about mankind (see the Eulogy from slides)
- Knittel (in The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music) identifies five
themes that make up the ‘Beethoven myth’ in Romantic music discourse:
o Beethoven’s superiority, and his conviction of his own superiority
o The transcendent nature of his music, and its ability to enact transcendence
o Beethoven’s independence, isolation, introspection
o Beethoven’s expression of his own feelings
o Beethoven’s strength of both character and music
- Some early influential biographers (different styles, trends and modes of
presentation that runs through these)
o Anton Schindler
o Wilhelm von Lenz
Downloaded by olinder seth ()
Beethoven Lecturenotes
Beethoven: Between History and Myth (University of Oxford)
Scan to open on Studocu
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
Downloaded by olinder seth ()
, lOMoARcPSD|59658805
Beethoven: Between History and Myth (Lecture notes)
Recent literature (associated with 250th anniversary)
- Lewis Lockwod: Beethoven’s Lives
- Jan Caeyers’ Beethoven A Life
- Mark Evan Bonds (two books on Beethoven)
- Laura Tunbridge’s Beethoven A Life in Nine Pieces
Aims and Structure of the Course
- Beethoven’s musical life and the mythical status he acquired in cultural history
- Cultural, political, and ethical values associations of his music; what do these
associations tell us about the times in which they prospered?
- Critical approach relating Beethoven’s legacy
- How did Beethoven the man become Beethoven the icon, and why?
- A primarily historical approach, not focused on the analysis of Beethoven’s works
- We will look at the major works (Symphonies, Fidelio)
1. Introduction: Rethinking Beethoven’s Biography
2. Beethoven and Historiography
3. Beethoven and Philosophy
4. Beethoven and Politics
5. Beethoven and Academia
6. Beethoven and Pop culture (+Essay surgery)
Beethoven’s Biography: Some Glimpses
- See slides for literature on his life and works (first one is the Kerman, Tyson,
Burnham, Johnson and Drabkin – a very good summary); Cambridge Companion also
good, as well as Solomon’s important biography (revised edition)
Vienna
- Uncertainty about Beethoven’s age (especially in his youth)
- Relationships between Beethoven and Mozart, and Beethoven and Haydn
Beethoven’s musical teachers in Vienna
- Haydn
- Salieri
- Johann Baptist Schenk
- Johann Georg Albrechtberger
Major works
- Pathetique (1798)
- String Quartet op. 18 (1798-1800)
- First Symphony (1800)
Beethoven’s patrons
- Beethoven always very much supported by patrons:
o Bonn: Count Waldstein, Archduke Max Franz
o Vienna: Prince Lichnowsky, Baron von Swieten (see DeNora, Beethoven and
Construction of Genius), Archduke Rudolph…etc.
Beethoven’s health
Downloaded by olinder seth ()
, lOMoARcPSD|59658805
- Hearing problems: initially hopeful that he would regain hearing abilities; but it
became more obvious that he might not recover (evident in letter from 1801)
- The Heiligenstadt testament: an extremely important biographical document
Some major works from the ‘middle/ heroic’ style
- Waldstein sonata (1804)
- Eroica Symphony (1804)
- Appasionnata (1804)
- Fidelio (1805)
- Razumowsky String Quartets (1807).
- Fifth Symphony
- Egmont overture
- Archduke
Major works from the ‘late’period
- Late piano sonatas
- Hammerklavier
- Missa Solemnis
- Diabelli Variations
- Ninth Symphony
- Galtzin String Quartets
- Great
Crises in Beethoven’s life
- Deafness and mental illness
- Political situation in Vienna:
o 1805 and 1809: Battle of Wagram, Vienna taken by French Empire
o Hapsburg empire
- Karl Franz van Beethoven
o Beethoven fought his mother for custody of his nephew; in 1820 the legal
battle was successful, but in 1826 Karl Franz attempted suicide
(Had to leave 20 mins early for meeting, look at Panopto slides – lectures will be recorded!!)
Lecture 2: Beethoven and Historiography
Beethoven’s Biographers
- Romanticised aspects of Beethoven’s early reception
- The idea that Beethoven’s music is not just about his own struggles, but that it says
something broader about mankind (see the Eulogy from slides)
- Knittel (in The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music) identifies five
themes that make up the ‘Beethoven myth’ in Romantic music discourse:
o Beethoven’s superiority, and his conviction of his own superiority
o The transcendent nature of his music, and its ability to enact transcendence
o Beethoven’s independence, isolation, introspection
o Beethoven’s expression of his own feelings
o Beethoven’s strength of both character and music
- Some early influential biographers (different styles, trends and modes of
presentation that runs through these)
o Anton Schindler
o Wilhelm von Lenz
Downloaded by olinder seth ()
