Beethoven after Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late WorksIn this provocative analysis of Beethoven's late style, Stephen Rumph demonstrates how deeply political events shaped the composer's music, from his early enthusiasm for the French Revolution to his later entrenchment during the Napoleonic era. Impressive in its breadth of research as well as for its devotion to interdisciplinary work in music history, Beethoven after Napoleon challenges accepted views by illustrating the influence of German Romantic political thought in the formation of the artist's mature style. Beethoven's political views, Rumph argues, were not quite as liberal as many have assumed. While scholars agree that the works of the Napoleonic era such as the Eroica Symphony or Fidelio embody enlightened, revolutionary ideals of progress, freedom, and humanism, Beethoven's later works have attracted less political commentary. Rumph contends that the later works show clear affinities with a native German ideology that exalted history, religion, and the organic totality of state and society. He claims that as the Napoleonic Wars plunged Europe into political and economic turmoil, Beethoven's growing antipathy to the French mirrored the experience of his Romantic contemporaries. Rumph maintains that Beethoven's turn inward is no pessimistic retreat but a positive affirmation of new conservative ideals. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 66
Page 5
... ideas, as the briefest glance at his patriotic works from the last years of the Napoleonic era will show. The ideology of political Romanticism, this study will argue, was no passing fad for Beethoven. It exercised a profound and ...
... ideas, as the briefest glance at his patriotic works from the last years of the Napoleonic era will show. The ideology of political Romanticism, this study will argue, was no passing fad for Beethoven. It exercised a profound and ...
Page 7
... ideas and the history of composition might intersect . According to this method , for instance , we need claim neither that the Eroica illustrates Hegel's dialectic nor that the structure of the Phanomenologie des Geistes evokes a philo ...
... ideas and the history of composition might intersect . According to this method , for instance , we need claim neither that the Eroica illustrates Hegel's dialectic nor that the structure of the Phanomenologie des Geistes evokes a philo ...
Page 9
... idea that still holds sway among critics and audiences. Nowhere did Hoffmann more eloquently proclaim this gospel than in his review of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In this landmark of Beethoven re- ception, published in 1810 in the ...
... idea that still holds sway among critics and audiences. Nowhere did Hoffmann more eloquently proclaim this gospel than in his review of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In this landmark of Beethoven re- ception, published in 1810 in the ...
Page 13
... ideas and or- ganization into every aspect of Prussian national life. Spearheading the movement was Baron Stein, who seized on the wartime crisis to realize his longstanding plans for modernization. After Napoleon exiled Stein in 1808 ...
... ideas and or- ganization into every aspect of Prussian national life. Spearheading the movement was Baron Stein, who seized on the wartime crisis to realize his longstanding plans for modernization. After Napoleon exiled Stein in 1808 ...
Page 20
... ideas in formulating the Holy Alliance, and Ludwig I of Bavaria enthusiastically embraced the Nazarenes. During the 1830s Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia embarked on a deliberately Romantic cultural program, summoning the mystical ...
... ideas in formulating the Holy Alliance, and Ludwig I of Bavaria enthusiastically embraced the Nazarenes. During the 1830s Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia embarked on a deliberately Romantic cultural program, summoning the mystical ...
Contents
1 | |
9 | |
2 THE HEROIC SUBLIME | 35 |
3 PROMETHEAN HISTORY | 58 |
4 1809 | 92 |
PRELUDE AND FUGUE | 109 |
DOUBLE FUGUE | 133 |
7 ANDROGYNOUS UTOPIAS | 156 |
8 VOX POPULI VOX DEI | 195 |
9 A MODERNIST EPILOGUE | 222 |
Notes | 247 |
Works Cited | 267 |
Index | 279 |
Other editions - View all
Beethoven After Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works Stephen Rumph Limited preview - 2004 |
Beethoven After Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works Stephen Rumph No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Adagio Adam Müller Adorno aesthetic Allegro bars beauty Beethoven’s late begins C-major cadenzas cantus firmus Carl Dahlhaus cello chorale chord Classical coda composer concerto contrapuntal countersubject cresc critics Critique Dahlhaus dialectic double counterpoint double fugue dramatic E. T. A. Hoffmann Ehre Gottes Elaine Sisman emerges Eroica Fifth French Freude Friedrich fugal fugato German Grosse Fuge Hammerklavier harmony Haydn heroic style human hymn idea ideal individual Joseph Kerman Kant Kinderman late quartets late style Leonore lyrical Maestoso major Marcia melody ment Minor Missa solemnis motive movement naive Napoleon nature Ninth Symphony Ninth Symphony finale notes Novalis Ode to Joy opening Piano Sonata realm reprise rhythm rhythmic Riezler Romantic political Romanticism Rosen Schenker scherzo Schiller Schlegel second theme sf sf Siegessinfonie Solomon sonata form spirit String Quartet structure sublime texture thematic tion tonal trans transcendent Universalgeschichte University Press variations Vienna voice Wellingtons Sieg Werke
Popular passages
Page 86 - Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.
Page 50 - Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.