Ludwig van Beethoven: Approaches to his Music

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Life and work
personal style and the individuality of single works
"Ingenium" and "Witz"
the symphonic style
issues in sonata form
theme and character
the "underlying idea"
form as idea
the "new path"
"Fidelio"
church music and the religion of art
subthematicism
late works.

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Many books have been written about Beethoven but it is rare to find one which seeks an alternative to the tendency of academia, on the one hand, to fragmentation, and of popular biographical writing, on the other, to a superficial overview. In this volume, the late Carl Dahlhaus combines the interpretations of individual works with excursions into the musical aesthetics of the period around 1800, an age which was not only a `classical' period in the history of the arts but also one in which aesthetics carved itself a place in the centre of philosophical attention. The theme of the book is the reconstruction of Beethoven's `musical thinking' from the evidence in the works themselves and their context in the history of ideas. A table entitled `Chronicle' places the references to biographical data in their historical context. The selective bibliography includes comments to assist readers to find their way in the labyrinth of the literature about Beethoven.

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The translation is eminently readable, and the clarity of the technical musical analyses will allow even a general reader interested in Beethoven to gain a deeper appreciation of the music

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