Publisher Description

Beethoven's ten violin sonatas have long been cornerstones of the chamber music repertoire. The "Spring" and "Kreutzer" sonatas are the best known of these works, which stand at the pinnacle of music for violin and piano. Lewis Lockwood and Mark Kroll's volume The Beethoven Violin Sonatas is the first scholarly book in English devoted exclusively to the Beethoven sonatas, and deals with them in unprecedented depth. It presents seven critical and historical essays by some of the most important American and European Beethoven specialists of our time. The authors examine the sonatas within the history of the genre, the social and cultural context in which they were written, their significance within Beethoven's life and works, and the issues they raise regarding performance practices of the period.

Author Biography

Lewis Lockwood is the Fanny Peabody Research Professor of Music, emeritus, at Harvard University. He is the author of the widely acclaimed Beethoven: The Music and the Life and other books. Mark Kroll is an emeritus professor of music at Boston University and is known as one of the world's leading harpsichordists and fortepianists. He is also a noted authority on performance practice and period instruments whose publications include Johann Nepomuk Hummel's arrangements of Twelve Overtures and Mozart's Haffner and Linz Symphonies.

 

Table of Contents

Beethoven's Opus 12 violin sonatas: On the path to his personal style Sieghard Brandenberg; "On the beautiful in music": Beethoven's "Spring" sonata for violin and piano, Opus 24 Lewis Lockwood; "Sonate, que me veux-tu?": Opus 30, Opus 31 and the anxieties of genre Richard Kramer; Beethoven's Opus 47: Balance and virtuosity Suhnne Ahn; The introduction to Beethoven's "Kreutzer" sonata: A historical perspective William Drabkin; The violin sonata in G major, Opus96: Pastoral, rhetoric, structure Maynard Solomon; As if stroked with a bow: Beethoven's keyboard legato and the sonatas for violin and piano Mark Kroll

Review

" ... covers the subject systematically, with the whole repertoire covered, at least to some extent."--Early Music Review, 107 June 2005

Long Description

Beethoven's ten violin sonatas have long been cornerstones of the chamber music repertoire. The ''Spring'' and ''Kreutzer'' sonatas are the best known of these works, which stand at the pinnacle of music for violin and piano. Lewis Lockwood and Mark Kroll's volume The Beethoven Violin Sonatas is the first scholarly book in English devoted exclusively to the Beethoven sonatas, and deals with them in unprecedented depth. It presents seven critical and historical essays by some of the most important American and European Beethoven specialists of our time. The authors examine the sonatas within the history of the genre, the social and cultural context in which they were written, their significance within Beethoven's life and works, and the issues they raise regarding performance practices of the period.''The Beethoven Violin Sonatas offers new perspectives, at once scholarly and broadly appealing, for anyone from amateur musicians and concertgoers to students and scholars. The selections are by turn original, lucid, elegant, and wise.''--Elaine Sisman, Anne Parsons Bender Professor of Music, Columbia University ''This volume makes a wonderful contribution to the literature on a genre that was crucial for Beethoven's compositional development during a period which yielded several unquestionable masterpieces. The violin sonatas have been relatively neglected in Beethoven scholarship, and this book takes a large step forward in correcting this oversight and will surely stimulate further research into this rich field.''--Glenn Stanley, professor of music history, University of Connecticut at Storrs

Review Quote

" . . . covers the subject systematically, with the whole repertoire covered, at least to someextent."--Early Music Review, 107 June 2005

Promotional "Headline"

A companion for readers, listeners, and performers from the field=s top experts

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