Experiencing Beethoven

The life and music of Beethoven still fascinate classical music lovers, new and old. His many symphonies, sonatas, concertos, string quartets, and his one opera enchant audiences, challenge performers, engage students, and support scholars in their work. InExperiencing Beethoven, music historian Geoffrey Block explores in laymans terms a highly representative body of about two dozen Beethoven instrumental and vocal works, offering listeners who know him well, or are just discovering him, an opportunity to grasp the breadth and depth of his musical genius.

Designed for those unversed in musical terminology or theory,Experiencing Beethovenplaces the composers works within the evolving context of his personal and professional life and social and cultural milieu. Block sheds light on the public and private audiences of Beethovens music, from the concerts for the composers own financial benefit to the debut of the Eroica Symphony at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz to the historic public premiere of his Ninth Symphony.

Experiencing Beethovenpaints a portrait of the composers youth in Bonn, his early triumphs and artistic maturation in Vienna, anddespite the challenges his music posed to his contemporaries the recognition he received during his lifetime as the most acclaimed composer of the era. Block conveys the range and scope of Beethovens achievement, from his heroic style to his lyricism, grappling throughout with the composers power to communicate his idealistic musical vision to listeners in both his time and ours. Finally,Experiencing Beethovenexplores why Beethovens music continues to enjoy an unwavering appeal in an age saturated with a range of musical styles.

Geoffrey Block is distinguished professor of music history at the University of Puget Sound. He is the author ofIves: Concord Sonata (1996),Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber (1997; 2nd ed. 2009), andRichard Rodgers(2003), a co-editor and contributor toCharles Ives and the Classical Tradition (1996), the editor ofThe Richard Rodgers Reader(2002), and the editor of two series of books on the American musical.

1. The Spirit of Mozart (1770-1792)
2. From the Hands of Haydn (1792-1801)
3. The Heroic Style (1802-1806)
4.Fidelio: Beethovens One and Only Opera (1805-06 and 1814)
5. Symphonic Alternatives to the Heroic Style (1807-1814)
6. Beethoven and Song
7. The Late Piano Music (1816-1824)
8.Daiku:The Big Ninth
9. The String Quartet in C# Minor, Op. 131
Glossary
Selected Reading
Selected Listening