Beethoven - by William Kinderman (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Ludwig van Beethoven entered university the year that the French Revolution broke out. He went on to live through the Reign of Terror, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the battles of Wagram and Leipzig, and the era of political repression following the Congress of Vienna. Interpretations of Beethoven's music have tended to emphasize the composer's personal suffering and inner struggles over the political resonance of his work. Yet, as William Kinderman's brilliantly written study shows, Beethoven's life and art were shaped in far-reaching ways by the turbulence of his era. Starting with the composer's formative years in Bonn, Kinderman reevaluates the political implications of Beethoven's art, revealing how musical tensions in his major works symbolically played out the real-world struggles of his time. Written for the 250th anniversary of his birth, the book also takes stock of Beethoven's legacy, assessing his growing worldwide appeal amid the political challenges that confront us today. Kinderman movingly considers how the Fifth Symphony helped galvanize resistance to fascism, how the Sixth has energized the environmental movement, and how Beethoven's civic engagement will continue to inspire in politically perilous times"--

Book Synopsis

We have long regarded Beethoven as a great composer, but we rarely appreciate that he was also an eminently political artist. This book unveils the role of politics in his oeuvre, elucidating how the inherently political nature of Beethoven's music explains its power and endurance.

William Kinderman presents Beethoven as a civically engaged thinker faced with severe challenges. The composer lived through many tumultuous events--the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Congress of Vienna among them. Previous studies of Beethoven have emphasized the importance of his personal suffering and inner struggles; Kinderman instead establishes that musical tensions in works such as the Eroica, the Appassionata, and his final piano sonata in C minor reflect Beethoven's attitudes toward the political turbulence of the era. Written for the 250th anniversary of his birth, Beethoven takes stock of the composer's legacy, showing how his idealism and zeal for resistance have ensured that masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony continue to inspire activists around the globe. Kinderman considers how the Fifth Symphony helped galvanize resistance to fascism, how the Sixth has energized the environmental movement, and how Beethoven's civic engagement continues to inspire in politically perilous times. Uncertain times call for ardent responses, and, as Kinderman convincingly affirms, Beethoven's music is more relevant today than ever before.

Review Quotes

"William Kinderman's compact but engrossing book presents a wide-ranging summary of the performance history of the symphony as a political, often politicized work, embracing the use of the recurring theme of the choral finale as the anthem of the European Union, a flash-mob performance in Catalonia, and, most famously, the fall of the Berlin War, when Leonard Bernstein changed Schiller's and Beethoven's "Freude" to 'Freiheit.'"--David Wyn Jones "Book Reviews"

"At a time when citizen involvement in politics is crucial, Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times presents a broader, more socially relevant vision of political activity. Both professionals and laypersons can appreciate Kinderman's convincing demonstration that Beethoven's politics involved not just heroes, fanfares and funeral marches, but also his ideals, performance practice, social relations, and even wit and humour."--Rose Mauro "Nineteenth-Century Music Review"

"William Kinderman, known for his prolific writing on many aspects of Beethoven's oeuvre, explores in his most recent book, published in the bicentenary year, how a richer grasp of historical and political contexts may enhance our understanding of the meanings, and continued significance of Beethoven's music. . . . Impressive cross-referencing of political, historical, aesthetic, literary, genetic and analytical studies gives this book a unique quality, that illuminates and connects past and present. . . . This compact, richly impressive volume aspires to a universality worthy of Beethoven himself."--Malcolm Miller "Ad Parnassum"

"After reading Kinderman, considering Beethoven's music in the same old ways will be impossible. . . . Essential."-- "Choice Connect"

"Kinderman focuses on Beethoven's lifelong belief in freedom and progress as universal ideals that found expression in his music in all periods of his life in ways that continue to resonate to the present day. . . . The book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of Beethoven as a politically engaged artist and reveals politics to be a vital context for some of his most important works."--Erica Buurman "Early Music America"

"Pianist and composer Kinderman adds to his shelf of well-regarded contributions to the Beethoven literature with this appealing title focusing on how the political and philosophical movements of the late 1700s to early 1800s influenced the composer's creative development. . . . Kinderman's exhaustive scholarship and fluid style combine with up-to-date references to issues such as systemic repression and other provocative topics, which should resonate with both academics and informed general readers."-- "Library Journal"

"William Kinderman, in Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times, reinforces the picture of a fundamentally liberal-minded artist, and gives a telling portrait of the composer."--Alex Ross "The New Yorker"

"Drawing on letters, sketchbooks, manuscripts, and abundant scholarship, concert pianist and music scholar Kinderman argues convincingly that Beethoven (1770-1827) was 'far from indifferent' to political events that roiled Europe during his lifetime. Offering minutely close exegeses of Beethoven's works. . . . Kinderman shows how the composer responded to the 'tensions and contradictions' of the time."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Kinderman's study shows how the great composer maneuvered in times much like our Trumpian own. . . . Hardly a page goes by in [this] superbly written book without offering an unexpected reason to care about Beethoven."--Mark Swed "Los Angeles Times"

"Written for his 250th anniversary, this biography presents the great composer as a civically engaged thinker, living through tumultuous times, and shows how his music continues to inspire activists around the world to this day."-- "The Bookseller"

"Kinderman has written a fresh and fascinating book packed with intriguing thoughts and unexpected alignments about how Beethoven's politics translated themselves into Beethoven's music. This is a book that awakens the reader not only with its content but with the love and enthusiasm of its author."--Patrick Summers, artistic and music director, Houston Grand Opera

"Kinderman, one of the leading authorities on Beethoven, has succeeded here in connecting an impressive panorama of Beethoven's life and works with the rarely touched aspect of the composer's political leanings, an approach that yields particularly memorable insights in connection with his only opera, Leonore/Fidelio."--Alfred Brendel, pianist and author

"This book is a timely contribution to the current trend toward interpreting art primarily in political terms. Placing his aesthetic commentary in a well-grounded biographical and historical context, Kinderman illuminates the political aspects of Beethoven's life and outlook. He goes on to discuss the ways in which a number of Beethoven's important works reflect the composer's lifelong belief in freedom and progress as both personal and universal values."--Lewis Lockwood, author of 'Beethoven: The Music and the Life'

"To explore Beethoven's world as Kinderman does in this revelatory book is to confront multiple tensions and contradictions. Kinderman shows how the political relevance of Beethoven's music remains tangible: how, for example, in an age of global warming, humanly altered weather patterns, and political indifference to environmental degradation, Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is 'more pertinent than ever before.' Kinderman combines a scholarly probing of the source material with an astute analysis of selected works by Beethoven, always rooted in their historical and political context. But what makes this beautifully written monograph so telling is the way Kinderman relates Beethoven's passionate but erratic response to the political turmoil of his age to our own times."--Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

"With a keen ear attuned to both musical and historical salience, Kinderman reveals the animating presence of the political in almost every aspect of Beethoven's life, his work, and his legacy. In doing so, he illuminates the crucial context from which to assess Beethoven's astonishing achievement of a moral ideal that has resounded from the Age of Revolution to our own times."--Scott Burnham, author of 'Beethoven Hero'

About the Author

William Kinderman is professor of music and the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Chair in Performance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His many books include Beethoven, The Creative Process in Music from Mozart to Kurtág, and, most recently, Wagner's "Parsifal."