edited by William Kinderman contributions by Joseph Kerman, William Kinderman, Harald Krebs, Malcolm Miller, Lewis Lockwood, Nicholas Marston, Seow-Chin Ong, Robert S Hatten and William E Caplin
University of Illinois Press, 2020 eISBN: 978-0-252-09162-9 | Paper: 978-0-252-08515-4 | Cloth: 978-0-252-03036-9 Library of Congress Classification MT145.B425S75 2006 Dewey Decimal Classification 785.7194092
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
”We do not understand music—it understands us.” This aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno expresses the quandary and the fascination many listeners have felt in approaching Beethoven's late quartets. No group of compositions occupies a more central position in chamber music, yet the meaning of these works continues to stimulate debate. William Kinderman's The String Quartets of Beethoven stands as the most detailed and comprehensive exploration of the subject. It collects new work by leading international scholars who draw on a variety of historical sources and analytical approaches to offer fresh insights into the aesthetics of the quartets, probing expressive and structural features that have hitherto received little attention. This volume also includes an appendix with updated information on the chronology and sources of the quartets and a detailed bibliography.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
William Kinderman is professor and Inaugural Leon M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Chair of Performance Studies in the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. His publications include Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Beethoven, and the three-volume Artaria 195: Beethoven's Sketchbook for the Missa solemnis and the Piano Sonata in E Major, Opus 109.
REVIEWS
”As other scholars read and digest the ideas expressed in these essays, they will be encouraged to reexamine works both by Beethoven and other composers in light of the concepts and methodologies presented here. This book is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in Beethoven’s quartets, or any facet of Beethoven’s music, as well as for libraries serving research and graduate programs in music history, musicology, or music theory.”—Notes
”In these studies of Beethoven's life and music, Kinderman brings together essays that will please historians, critics, and music theorists. This impressive volume is important not only to the study of the string quartets, but to how we understand Beethoven's music in general.”—Christopher A. Reynolds, professor of music, University of California, Davis
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Introduction
William Kinderman
1. Transformational Processes in Beethoven's Op. 18 Quartets
William Kinderman
2. Metrical Dissonance and Metrical Revision in Beethoven's
String Quartets
Harald Krebs
3. Peak Experience: High Register and Structure in the
"Razumovsky" Quartets, Op. 59
Malcolm Miller
4. Beethoven's "Harp" Quartet: The Sketches in Context
Lewis Lockwood
5. "Haydn's Geist aus Beethovens Händen"? Fantasy and Farewell in
the Quartet in E, Op. 74
Nicholas Marston
6. Aspects of the Genesis of Beethoven's String Quartet in F
Minor, Op. 95
Seow-Chin Ong
7. "so träumte mir, ich reiste [. . .] nach Indien": Temporality
and Mythology in Op. 127/I
Birgit Lodes
8. Plenitude as Fulfillment: The Third Movement of Beethoven's
String Quartet in B, Op. 130
Robert Hatten
9. The Genesis of the Countersubjects for the Grosse Fuge
William Caplin
10. Opus 131 and the Uncanny
Joseph Kerman
11. Beethoven's Last Quartets: Threshold to a Fourth Creative
Period?
William Kinderman
Appendix: Chronology and Sources of the String Quartets
Selected Bibliography
Index
