Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets

Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets PDF Author: Nancy November
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107512425
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Beethoven's middle-period quartets, Opp. 59, 74 and 95, are pieces that engage deeply with the aesthetic ideas of their time. In the first full contextual study of these works, Nancy November celebrates their uniqueness, exploring their reception history and early performance. In detailed analyses, she explores ways in which the quartets have both reflected and shaped the very idea of chamber music and offers a new historical understanding of the works' physical, visual, social and ideological aspects. In the process, November provides a fresh critique of three key paradigms in current Beethoven studies: the focus on his late period; the emphasis on 'heroic' style in discussions of the middle period; and the idea of string quartets as 'pure', 'autonomous' artworks, cut off from social moorings. Importantly, this study shows that the quartets encompass a new lyric and theatrical impetus, which is an essential part of their unique, explorative character.

Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets

Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets PDF Author: Nancy November
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107512425
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book Here

Book Description
Beethoven's middle-period quartets, Opp. 59, 74 and 95, are pieces that engage deeply with the aesthetic ideas of their time. In the first full contextual study of these works, Nancy November celebrates their uniqueness, exploring their reception history and early performance. In detailed analyses, she explores ways in which the quartets have both reflected and shaped the very idea of chamber music and offers a new historical understanding of the works' physical, visual, social and ideological aspects. In the process, November provides a fresh critique of three key paradigms in current Beethoven studies: the focus on his late period; the emphasis on 'heroic' style in discussions of the middle period; and the idea of string quartets as 'pure', 'autonomous' artworks, cut off from social moorings. Importantly, this study shows that the quartets encompass a new lyric and theatrical impetus, which is an essential part of their unique, explorative character.

Beethoven for a Later Age

Beethoven for a Later Age PDF Author: Edward Dusinberre
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571317154
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
'They are not for you but for a later age!' Ludwig van Beethoven, on the Opus 59 quartets. Tackling the Beethoven quartets is a rite of passage that has shaped the Takács Quartet's work together for over forty years. Using the history of the composition and first performances of the quartets as the backbone to his story, Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the Takács since 1993 - recounts the life of the Quartet from its inception in Hungary, through emigration to the US and its present-day life as one of the world's renowned string quartets. He also describes what it was like for him, as a young man fresh out of the Juilliard School, to join the Quartet as its first non-Hungarian member - an exhilarating challenge. Beethoven for a Later Age takes the reader inside the life of a quartet, vividly showing how four people enjoy making music together over a long period of time. The key, the author argues, is in balancing continuity with change and experimentation - a theme that also lies at the heart of Beethoven's remarkable compositions.

The Beethoven Quartet Companion

The Beethoven Quartet Companion PDF Author: Robert Winter
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520082113
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
"Reading The Beethoven Quartet Companion made me want to listen to the quartets again from a new sociological as well as musical perspective. It is an invaluable guide not only for professional and amateur musicians but also for anyone who is curious about culture and wants to find out more."--Yo-Yo Ma "These essays are the most readable, useful, and well-informed commentary available today on these masterworks. Michael Steinberg's 'program notes' to each quartet, directed at once to the musical beginner and to the expert, are as eloquent and persuasive as popular writing about music can get. . . . His essays are followed by equally expert and accessible contributions by other masters on The Master, providing literate music lovers with the context and equipment for a richer enjoyment and clearer understanding of these sixteen unique conversations among two violins, a viola, and a cello."--David Littlejohn, author of The Ultimate Art: Essays Around and About Opera "A fine collection of essays to assist the music lover in the seemingly endless quest to illuminate the Beethoven string quartets."--Arnold Steinhardt, The Guarneri String Quartet "This book delivers on the implied promise of its title--it provides a lively, readable, and wide-ranging introduction to the quartets. Readers at many levels of experience will find it profitable."--Lewis Lockwood, author of Beethoven: Studies in the Creative Process

Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets

Beethoven's Theatrical Quartets PDF Author: Nancy November
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107035457
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The first detailed contextual study of Beethoven's middle-period quartets, encompassing reception history, early performance practices, aesthetic contexts and theatrical impetus.

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge PDF Author: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Publisher: Performer's Edition
ISBN: 1450518656
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Originally written as the finale of Beethoven's 13th Quartet (Op. 130), the Grosse Fuge was later published as a separate work following the poor reception of that quartet by the public. In its current form, the Grosse Fuge (Op. 134), has become much loved among Beethoven afficianados and is seen as one of his most "contemporary" works.

String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe

String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe PDF Author: Nancy November
Publisher: Academic Studies PRess
ISBN: 1644697890
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe is the first detailed study of string quartets in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Europe. It brings together the work of nine scholars who explore little-studied aspects of this multi-faceted genre. Together, this book’s chapters deal with compositional responses to Beethoven’s string quartets and the prestige of the genre; varied compositional practices in string quartet writing, with a particular emphasis on texture and performance elements; and the reception of Beethoven’s string quartets ca. 1800. They include discussions of quartets composed for the amateur and connoisseur markets in Beethoven’s Europe; virtuosity, the French Violin School, and the quatuor brillant; the relationship between quartet composers and their audiences during Beethoven’s era; and the cross-pollination of quartet styles in Europe’s musical centers such as Vienna, Paris, and St. Petersburg.

The Beethoven Quartets

The Beethoven Quartets PDF Author: Joseph Kerman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393009095
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
A critical study of the structure, style, and significance of the sixteen string quartets.

The Rest Is Noise

The Rest Is Noise PDF Author: Alex Ross
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429932880
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 706

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Book Description
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

Beethoven's String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131

Beethoven's String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131 PDF Author: Nancy November
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190059206
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Re-hearing Op. 131 -- Popular and early reception -- "A new kind of part writing" -- "Like an overly large fantasy" -- Op. 131 and the Rise of Attentive Listening.

The Beethoven Quartet Companion

The Beethoven Quartet Companion PDF Author: Robert Winter
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520917502
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
While the Beethoven string quartets are to chamber music what the plays of Shakespeare are to drama, even seasoned concertgoers will welcome guidance with these personal and sometimes enigmatic works. This collection offers Beethoven lovers both detailed notes on the listening experience of each quartet and a stimulating range of more general perspectives: Who has the quartets' audience been? How were the quartets performed before the era of sound recordings? What is the relationship between "classical" and "romantic" in the quartets? How was their reception affected by social and economic history? What sorts of interpretive decisions are made by performers today? The Companion brings together a matchless group of Beethoven experts. Joseph Kerman is perhaps the world's most renowned Beethoven scholar. Robert Winter, an authority on sketches for the late quartets, has created interactive programs regarded as milestones in multimedia publishing. Maynard Solomon has written an acclaimed biography of Beethoven. Leon Botstein is the conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra as well as a distinguished social historian and college president. Robert Martin writes from his experience as cellist of the Sequoia Quartet. And the book is anchored by the program notes of Michael Steinberg, who has served as Artistic Advisor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra.