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| Contents |
Book 1. The life and character of Beethoven. Birth and parentage -- The child prodigy -- First journey to Vienna -- Early compositions and pianoforte playing -- Second journey to Vienna -- Youth in Vienna -- Success as a virtuoso -- Early habits -- Early friendships -- Rival virtuosos -- First symphony -- Relations with Vienna aristocracy -- Beginning of deafness -- The "Immortal beloved" -- Relations with women -- Ries becomes Beethoven's pupil -- The Heiligenstadt testament -- Relations with publishers in 1802 -- Relations with publishers in later years -- The "Eroica" symphony -- Quarrel with von Breuning -- Fidelio -- Karl van Beethoven -- Incidents of 1807-9 -- Beethoven's interest in literature -- Beethoven and religion -- Beethoven granted an annuity -- Conditions in Vienna in 1809 -- Beethoven and Therese von Malfatti -- Beethoven and Bettina Brentano -- Bettina's correspondence with Goethe -- Beethoven meets Goethe -- Amalie Sebald and the "Immortal beloved" -- Lawsuits and concerts -- Revival and revision of "Fidelio" -- Visit of Tomaschek -- Intercourse with English musicians -- Domestic troubles -- Troubles with publishers and domestics -- Incidents of the summer of 1817 -- Personal accounts of Beethoven in 1817-18 -- Composition of the Hammerklavier sonata -- Composition of the mass in D -- Incidents during the composition of the mass in D -- The years 1822-1823 -- Composition of the ninth symphony -- First performance of the ninth symphony and the mass in D -- The years 1824-1825 -- Beethoven and his nephew Karl -- Beethoven's last illness and death -- Book II. The music of Beethoven. Musical genius -- Musical memory -- Memory dependent on personality -- Personality determines form - Beethoven's one opera -- Beethoven and the operatic form -- Beethoven's rejection of "Macbeth" and "Faust" (comparison with Wagner) -- Beethoven's development towards the abstract -- Beethoven's instrumental sense -- Sense of musical colour -- The meaning of "Abstract" -- Beethoven's two periods -- Characteristics of his first period -- Comparison of Bach with Mozart -- Comparison of Beethoven with Bach, Mozart and Wagner -- Beethoven's heroic ideal (first period) -- Beethoven's heroic ideal (second period) -- The world of Beethoven's creation -- The Hammerklavier sonata -- The mass in D (Missa Solemnis) -- The ninth symphony -- The last quartets -- Book III. Ideals and the artist. Education -- Musical knowledge -- Memory and creation -- What is an "ideal?" -- Impermanence of ideals -- Ideals stifle feelings -- The artist's struggle against ideals -- The need to destroy "Forms" -- Art and conduct -- Book IV. Beethoven and the future. The importance of joy -- The change since Beethoven -- Schopenhauer and music -- Schopenhauer's fallacy -- Re-discovering the sublime -- Return to sensation -- The problem unsolved -- Appendix. Chronological table of Beethoven's compositions. |
| General note | Reprint of the 1927 edition. |
| General note | Includes index. |
| LCCN | 75157357 |
| ISBN | 0836958187 |
