Sunday, June 12, 2016

Welcome to the course on Ludwig van Beethoven



"In the world of art, as in the whole of creation,
   freedom and progress are the main objectives."

Beethoven,  1819                           




BBC Documentary:  The Genius of Beethoven  (3 hours)   Highly Recommended !!! 

                     Part 1:   The Rebel              Childhood & Early Period  (1770 - 1804)  
                     Part 2:   Love and Loss       Middle "Heroic" Period  (1804 - 1814)   
                     Part 3:   Faith and Fury      Late Period & Death  (1818 - 1827)


Documentary:  Keeping Score: Beethoven's Eroica (3rd symphony) 
                               Hosted my Michael Tilson Thomas  (55 mins, followed by a full 
                               performance of the symphony, 52 mins)


                               Beethoven Course Schedule                 


              Enhance your appreciation of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)    
        by understanding  his personal life and time period.  Beethoven led the transition of 
        music from 18th century Classicism to 19th century Romanticism.   
         
             A brief overview of Beethoven's childhood  and some of the topics related to this 
             course are in the short essay Who was Beethoven?           
 


   Recommended (but not required) course book

       Sachs, Harvey. The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824  (2010)  240 pages - $14.91


Reading the course book.  The recommended course book is about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which we will listen to on the final day.  It has four "parts" (chapters), but we will only be reading the first three (Part IV is about  Beethoven's influence on later composers).  This is the reading "schedule" -

    1.   Please read the first two "parts" (pages 9 - 111) of the book for a class discussion
          on Week 5.

    2.   Read part III "Imagining the Ninth" (p. 115 - 161) for the final class. 
           when we will be listening to and discussing Symphony No. 9

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Course Syllabus


Week 1:    Classicism & Romanticism 

                  An Introduction to classicism and  romanticism in the arts, and a 
                  discussion of Beethoven's innovations in composing using Symphony No. 5.

                  Also, an overview of Beethoven's "early period" in Vienna including
                  Piano Sonata No. 8 ("Pathétique").


Week 2:    Towards the Middle Period  (1801 - 1805)

                  The Enlightenment and the French Revolution, Beethoven's deafness, Vienna 1801 - 1809.

                  Piano Sonatas Nos. 14 ("Moonlight")  & 21 ("Waldstein"),
                  Violin Sonata No. 9 ("Kreutzer"),  Symphony No. 3


Week 3:    The Middle Period, Part II  (1806 - 1808) 

                  Proto-romanticism in the 18th century
                  Piano sonata # 23 ("Appassionata"), Violin Concerto,
                  Piano Concerto No. 4, Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral")



Week 4:    The Middle Period, Part III  (1809 - 1815)

                  Beethoven's life, 1810 - 1815

                  String Quartet No. 10 ("Harp"), Symphony No. 7, Fidelio, Cello Sonata No. 5


Week 5:    The Late Period  (1816 - 1826)

                  Class discussion of Harvey Sach's "The Ninth:  Beethoven and the World in 1824"
                  and an overview of Beethoven's last decade.

                  Piano Sonatas No. 29 ("Hammerklavier") and  No. 30,
                  String Quartet No. 13 with the Grosse Fugue, the "Missa Solemnis"


Week 6:    Finale:  Symphony No. 9  (1824)

                  Listen to and discuss the Ninth Symphony.  Final questions and comments.


Additional resources:

      This website has an  "Online Resources"  page which contains links to many articles and video documentaries about Beethoven, his contemporaries, and his time era.  The tab "Online Resources" on the tab bar at the top of each page will take you to the page. 

      Also, the website has a "Course Music on Youtube"  page that lists over 80 Beethoven compositions, about 20 by Haydn and Mozart, and one composition each by a dozen Romantic Era composers who followed Beethoven. 

      Each composition has a link to a live performance of the music on Youtube.  Click the (link) indicator to the right of the composition name to play the video.  There is a menu of links at the top of the page that lets you jump directly to Beethoven's symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, vocal works, etc.   Click the "Course Music on Youtube" tab on the tab bar to get to the page.