| Abstract |
This book is a collection of fourteen essays that present, both in broad outline and in detail, the manner of thinking and the method of working that created Beethoven's compositions. The author, one of the foremost musicologists of our time, crystallizes in these "Studies" his years of experience and thorough research in musical forms, matching his deductions and opinions with the theories and interpretations of other, also distinguished, scholars and experts. The subjects vary from the enormous, complex structure of the "Grand fugue" to the scholarly, but not pedantic, musical witticisms of the "Riddle canons." One essay is devoted to the artistic intentions and practical considerations that brought into being four Leonore overtures; another relates the admittedly mercenary but intensely human motives for his writing of the "Battle symphony," an almost unknown opus in the Beethoven catalog. The final chapter is a study of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, with "confessional" overtones of the author's own esthetic credo. The translation is both exact and brilliant. The book is written for, and most useful to, musicians and students already familiar with the theory and practice of composition, but laymen who are only listeners equipped with intellectual curiosity will enjoy - and learn from - these glimpses behind the scenes of Beethoven's creative activities. |
