We have long regarded Beethoven as a great composer, but we rarely
appreciate that he was also an eminently political artist. This
book unveils the role of politics in his oeuvre, elucidating how
the inherently political nature of Beethoven's music explains its
power and endurance. William Kinderman presents Beethoven as a
civically engaged thinker faced with severe challenges. The
composer lived through many tumultuous events--the French
Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the
Congress of Vienna among them. Previous studies of Beethoven have
emphasized the importance of his personal suffering and inner
struggles; Kinderman instead establishes that musical tensions in
works such as the Eroica, the Appassionata, and his final piano
sonata in C minor reflect Beethoven's attitudes toward the
political turbulence of the era. Written for the 250th anniversary
of his birth, Beethoven takes stock of the composer's legacy,
showing how his idealism and zeal for resistance have ensured that
masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony continue to inspire
activists around the globe. Kinderman considers how the Fifth
Symphony helped galvanize resistance to fascism, how the Sixth has
energized the environmental movement, and how Beethoven's civic
engagement continues to inspire in politically perilous times.
Uncertain times call for ardent responses, and, as Kinderman
convincingly affirms, Beethoven's music is more relevant today than
ever before.
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