Synopses & Reviews
Characteristic symphonies have texts associating them with literature, politics, religion, and other aspects of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century European culture. Examining both the music and its aesthetic and social contexts, this first full-length study of the genre demonstrates how symphonies constructed individual and collective identities through their subjects, representing emotion, human bodily movement, and the passage of time. Examples discussed include the Pastoral and Eroica symphonies of Beethoven and works by Haydn, Dittersdorf, and other composers of the era. An Appendix provides a thematic index of the entire repertory.
Review
"Would elementary general music teachers benefit from the mental exercise and new insights provided by this book? There's no question." Music Educators Journal
About the Author
Richard Will is Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of Washington. He has articles published or forthcoming on Beethoven, Haydn, and other topics in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century music in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Music and Letters, and Beethoven Forum. He has also written a series of critical essays on Jimi Hendrix for the International Dictionary of Black Composers.
Table of Contents
Paradise lost: Dittersdorf's Four ages of the world and the crisis of Austrian enlightened despotism --Preaching without words: reform Catholicism versus divine mystery in Haydn's Seven last words --Boundaries of the art: characteristic music in contemporary criticism and aesthetics --Paradise regained: time, morality, and humanity in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony --Making memories: symphonies of war, death, and celebration --Appendixes: 1. Thematic index of characteristic symphonies --Pastoral symphonies and movements --Symphonies and movements by subject