num_pages: 304
description: [Beethovens] music never grows old and enjoyed alongside Mr. Lockwoods expert commentary it sparkles with fresh magic. Wall Street Journal More than any other composer Beethoven left to posterity a vast body of material that documents the early stages of almost everything he wrote. From this trove of sketchbooks Lewis Lockwood draws us into the composers mind unveiling a creative process of astonishing scope and originality. For musicians and nonmusicians alike Beethovens symphonies stand at the summit of artistic achievement loved today as they were two hundred years ago for their emotional cogency variety and unprecedented individuality. Beethoven labored to complete nine of them over his lifetimea quarter of Mozarts output and a tenth of Haydnsyet no musical works are more iconic more indelibly stamped on the memory of anyone who has heard them. They are the products of an imagination that drove the composer to build out of the highest musical traditions of the past something startlingly new. Lockwood brings to bear a long career of studying the surviving sources that yield insight into Beethovens creative work including concept sketches for symphonies that were never finished. From these Lockwood offers fascinating revelations into the historical and biographical circumstances in which the symphonies were composed. In this compelling story of Beethovens singular ambition Lockwood introduces readers to the symphonies as individual artworks broadly tracing their genesis against the backdrop of political upheavals concert life and their relationship to his major works in other genres. From the first symphonies written during his emerging deafness to the monumental Ninth Lockwood brings to life Beethovens lifelong passion to compose works of unsurpassed beauty. 10 illustrations; 10 music examples
language: English
title: Beethoven's Symphonies: An Artistic Vision
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company