Beethoven in America
- Author: Broyles, Michael
[M]akes the case that not only was Beethoven the all-around musical stud of musical studs, he might be the greatest of all musical ingratiators, turning up in our American corner of the universe,...
Beethoven in America
- Author: Broyles, Michael
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[M]akes the case that not only was Beethoven the all-around musical stud of musical studs, he might be the greatest of all musical ingratiators, turning up in our American corner of the universe,...
About
Beethoven permeates American culture. His image appears on countless busts and coffee mugs; his music is heard in movie scores, TV soundtracks, commercials, and pop songs; he is Schroeder's god in Peanuts and Chuck Berry's freaked-out parent in "Roll over Beethoven." In this book, Michael Broyles seeks to understand the composer as he exists in the American imagination and explores how Beethoven became a cultural icon. Broyles examines Beethoven's appearance in a variety of contexts: American commercialism, the Afrocentrist and black power movements, and the modernist critique of Romanticism. He considers portrayals of Beethoven in American film and theater and the uses of his music in film scores, as well as references to Beethoven and his music in disco, country, rock, and rap. In the end, he shows that to examine Beethoven on American soil is to examine America itself.
Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1. Arrival and Sacralization
- 1. Arrival in America
- 2. Defining Beethoven
- 3. Deification and Spiritualization
- Part 2. Science, Scholars, and Critics
- 4. Beethoven, Modernism, and Science
- 5. "The Warm Tropical Summer of Sketch Research": Beethoven and the Cold War
- 6. Reactions to Modernism: Musical Meaning and the Classical Canon
- Part 3. Beethoven and the Dramatic Arts
- 7. Beethoven on the Silver Screen
- 8. Beethoven's Music in Film
- 9. Beethoven in the Theater
- Part 4. Beyond Classicism: Beethoven in American Society and Culture
- 10. "Beethoven Was Black": Why Does It Matter?
- 11. Beethoven in Popular Music
- 12. Beethoven Everywhere
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Awards and reviews
[M]akes the case that not only was Beethoven the all-around musical stud of musical studs, he might be the greatest of all musical ingratiators, turning up in our American corner of the universe, again and again, and more than most of us realize
