From Publishers Weekly
Although he breaks no new ground, Lockwood (a Harvard professor emeritus in music and a leading Beethoven scholar) does offer an extremely cogent account of the works as they relate to the well-known three phases of Beethoven's remarkable creative life. It's appropriate that the title places the music first, because it is Lockwood's highly observant account of the composer's musical development that will strike readers most forcibly. There is nothing much new to say about the life, and here Lockwood only goes through the motions, pausing only to observe that despite all the speculation, it is doubtful that Beethoven ever enjoyed the physical love of a woman, notwithstanding his many infatuations and sometimes passionate letters. On the music, however, he has many fine insights, particularly into Beethoven's very conscious and determined development of his skills, and his often-neglected splendor as a melodist. A regular Beethoven listener could do worse than use Lockwood's accounts of the works, particularly the middle and late ones-he's inclined to give scant shrift to anything before the Opus 18 quartets-as concert or record notes, written at exactly the right pitch for knowledgeable music lovers who don't have a score in front of them. Lockwood is also thorough regarding the impact of such previous masters as Handel, Bach, Mozart and Haydn on Beethoven's art. Many illustrations not seen by PW; in an unusual extra, about 100 musical examples linked to the book are available on a dedicated Web site.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A recognized authority on Beethoven, Lockwood (music, emeritus, Harvard) concentrates primarily on his subject's music and development as a composer before dedicating separate chapters to biography and the historical, political, and cultural milieus. This particularly refreshing approach, modeled on Abraham Pasis's "Subtle Is the Lord": The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein and Nicholas Boyle's Goethe: The Poet and the Age, differs from other recent studies that focused more on Beethoven's life (e.g., Barry Cooper's Beethoven and Maynard Solomon's Beethoven). All of Lockwood's narrative, including the discussion of specific compositions, will be accessible to serious music lovers with only a modest technical background. This results partly from an interesting innovation, especially pleasing to specialists-100 additional musical examples are available on a companion web site (www.wwnorton.com/ trade/lockwood), allowing the author to be far less technical in his discussion. Lockwood's study offers a new and authoritative interpretation of a prodigiously gifted and complex man and artist who saw himself as Mozart's heir. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.
Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Beethoven linked the Classical and Romantic periods in music. His early compositions reflected Mozart's influence and the example of the mature Haydn's work. Creativity, imagination, an acute mind, and a musical ear led Beethoven to explore new formal and harmonic structures, and his middle period includes most of his string quartets, piano sonatas, and symphonies--vehicles of his exploration. In his last period he produced his most romantic and grandest pieces. Lockwood relies upon Beethoven's sketchbooks, diaries, conversation books (used when he was very deaf), and letters to show how Beethoven developed his music. He provides background on historical and political events, including the French Revolution and rise of Napoleon, that influenced Beethoven. Along with some 50 music examples that are available on a Web site, Lockwood analyzes Beethoven's major compositions and shows how his musical thought grew. Coherent and eminently readable, this is a book that will complete anyone's understanding of one of the most innovative composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who remains influential and popular today. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"There is no better survey of Beethoven's compositions for a wide audience."
About the Author
Lewis Lockwood taught at Princeton and Harvard universities, where he is Fanny Peabody Professor of Music Emeritus. His Beethoven: The Music and the Life was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He resides in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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