Bringing together reception history, music analysis and
criticism, the history of music theory, and the philosophy of
music, "Beethoven Hero" explores the nature and persistence of
Beethoven's heroic style. What have we come to value in this music,
asks Scott Burnham, and why do generations of critics and analysts
hear it in much the same way? Specifically, what is it that fosters
the intensity of listener engagement with the heroic style, the
often overwhelming sense of identification with its musical
process? Starting with the story of heroic quest heard time and
again in the first movement of the "Eroica" Symphony, Burnham
suggests that Beethoven's music matters profoundly to its listeners
because it projects an empowering sense of self, destiny, and
freedom, while modeling ironic self-consciousness.
In addition to thus identifying Beethoven's music as an
overarching expression of values central to the age of Goethe and
Hegel, the author describes and then critiques the process by which
the musical values of the heroic style quickly became the
controlling model of compositional logic in Western music criticism
and analysis. Apart from its importance for students of Beethoven,
this book will appeal to those interested in canon formation in the
arts and in music as a cultural, ethical, and emotional force--and
to anyone concerned with what we want from music and what music
does for us.
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