Beethoven's Lives will be required reading for anyone interested in understanding how Beethoven biography has evolved through the ages. When Ludwig van Beethoven died in March 1827, the world of music felt an intense loss. The composer's funeral procession was one of the largest Vienna had ever witnessed, and the poet Franz Grillparzer's eulogy brought the tensions between the composer's life and music into sharp focus: the deaf and aloof genius, the alienated and eccentric artist, unable to form a lasting relationship with a woman but reaching out to mankind. These apparent contradictionswere to attract many Beethoven biographers yet to come. Here, Lewis Lockwood, himself a much-lauded Beethoven biographer, tells the story of Beethoven biography, from the earliest attempts made directly after the composer's death to the present day. Beethoven's Lives casts a wide net, tracing the story of Beethoven biography from Anton Schindler as biographer and falsifier, through the authoritative Alexander Wheelock Thayer and down tothe present. The list includes Gustav Nottebohm, the first scholar to study Beethoven's sketchbooks. With his work, biography could begin to reflect on the inner life of the artist as expressed in his music, and in this sense, sketchbooks could be seen as artistic diaries. Even Richard Wagner thought of writing a Beethoven biography, and the late nineteenth and early twentieth century saw the emergence of French and English traditions of Beethoven biography. In the tumultuous twentieth century, with world wars and fractured politics, the writing of Beethoven biography was sometimes caught up in the storm. By bringing the story down to our time, Lewis Lockwood identifiestraditions of Beethoven biography that today's scholars and writers need to be aware of. As Lockwood shows, each biography reflects not only on the individual writer's knowledge and interests, but also his inner sense of purposeas each writer works within the intellectual framework of his time. LEWIS H. LOCKWOOD is one of the leading authorities on Beethoven worldwide. Having taught at Princeton and Harvard, some of his key Beethoven publications include: Beethoven: The Music and the Life (Norton, 2003; translated into many languages), as well as Beethoven's Symphonies: An Artistic Vision (Norton, 2015) and with the Julliard String Quartet: Inside Beethoven'sQuartets: History, Performance, Interpretation (Harvard University Press, 2008). He is known for his studies of Beethoven's life and work, including the composer's autograph manuscripts and sketchbooks.

This brilliant portrayal weaves Beethoven's musical and biographical stories into their historical and artistic contexts. Lewis Lockwood sketches the turbulent personal, historical, political, and cultural frameworks in which Beethoven worked and examines their effects on his music. "The result is that rarest of achievements, a profoundly humane work of scholarship that will-or at least should-appeal to specialists and generalists in equal measure" (Terry Teachout, Commentary). Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. "Lewis Lockwood has written a biography of Beethoven in which the hours that Beethoven spent writing music-that is, his methods of working, his interest in contemporary and past composers, the development of his musical intentions and ideals, his inner musical life, in short-have been properly integrated with the external events of his career. The book is invaluable." -Charles Rosen "Lockwood writes with poetry and clarity-a rare combination. I especially enjoyed the connection that he makes between the works of Beethoven and the social and political context of their creation-we feel closer to Beethoven the man without losing our wonder at his genius." -Emanuel Ax "The magnum opus of an illustrious Beethoven scholar. From now on, we will all turn to Lockwood's Beethoven: The Music and the Life for insight and instruction." -Maynard Solomon "This is truly the Beethoven biography for the intelligent reader. Lewis Lockwood speaks in his preface of writing on Beethoven's works at 'a highly accessible descriptive level.' But he goes beyond that. His discussion of the music, based on a deep knowledge of its context and the composition processes behind it, explains, elucidates, and is not afraid to evaluate; while the biographical chapters, clearly and unfussily written, and taking full account of the newest thinking on Beethoven, align closely with the musical discussion. The result is a deeply perceptive book that comes as close as can be to presenting the man and the music as a unity."-Stanley Sadie, editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "Impressive for both its scholarship and its fresh insights, this landmark work-fully accessible to the interested amateur-immediately takes its place among the essential references on this composer and his music."-Bob Goldfarb, KUSC-FM 91.5 "Lockwood writes like an angel: lucid, enthusiastic, stirring and enlightening. Beethoven has found his ablest interpreter."-Jonathan Keates, The Spectator "There is no better survey of Beethoven's compositions for a wide audience."-Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times Book Review

The Beethoven symphonies form the core of the classical concert repertoire and remain among the defining works of the Western musical experience. As the heir to Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven possessed an artistic vision that found its most powerful expression in the symphonic form, which he revolutionised and bequeathed to posterity. Beethoven's Symphonies introduces each symphony and traces the background, set against the contemporary political upheavals, the growth of concert life and his other works. Lewis Lockwood uncovers a creative process of remarkable scope and originality, including reference to ideas sketched out but not realised. From the first symphonies to the monumental Ninth, his passion to compose works of transcendent value is brought to life.

It is well known that Mozart developed his works in his head and then simply transcribed them onto paper, while Beethoven labored assiduously over sketches and drafts--"his first ideas," in Stephen Spender's words, "of a clumsiness which makes scholars marvel at how he could, at the end, have developed from them such miraculous results." Indeed Beethoven's extensive sketchbooks (which total over 8,000 pages) and the autograph manuscripts, covering several stages of development, reveal the composer systematically exploring and evolving his musical ideas.

Through close investigation of individual works, Lewis Lockwood traces the creative process as it emerges in Beethoven's sketches and manuscripts. Four studies address the composition of the "Eroica" Symphony from various viewpoints. The chamber works discussed include the Cello Sonata in A Major, Opus 69 (of which the entire autograph manuscript of the first movement is published here in facsimile), the string quartet Opus 59 No. 1, and the Cavatina of the later quartet Opus 130. Lockwood's lucid analysis enhances our understanding of Beethoven's musical strategies and stylistic developments as well as the compositional process itself In a final chapter the author outlines the importance of Beethoven's autographs for the modern performer.

Neuer Blick auf das Phänomen Beethoven. Der Autor entwirft in seiner erfolgreichen Biografie, die für den Pulitzerpreis nominiert war, ein detailreiches Bild vom Leben und Werk des großen Komponisten. Er zeichnet die musikalische Entwicklung Beethovens nach und legt ein besonderes Augenmerk auf die historischen, politischen und kulturellen Hintergründe. Jedes Kapitel wird mit einem kurzen Überblick über die wichtigsten biografischen Ereignisse eingeleitet, bevor die Musik des jeweiligen Zeitabschnitts mit Verweisen auf Skizzenbücher und Autografe vorgestellt wird. Vielfältige Einsichten für Experten und Interessierte.

Lewis Lockwood's compelling story introduces each symphony as an individual artwork and traces the creative background of each, set against the contemporary political upheavals, the growth of concert life and the relationship to his major works in other genres. From the first symphonies to the monumental Ninth, his lifelong passion to compose works of transcendent aesthetic and moral value is brilliantly brought to life.

The string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven, the signal achievement of "that noble genre," have rewarded the engagement of scholars, performers, and audiences for almost two hundred years. This book and its accompanying recording invite you to experience three of these profound and beautiful works of music from the inside, with a leading Beethoven scholar and a premier performing ensemble as your guides. Lewis Lockwood provides historical and biographical background along with musical analysis, drawing on the most important insights of recent scholarship on Beethoven's life and works. The members of the Juilliard Quartet share the fruits of decades of performing and teaching these compositions through annotated scores and recordings of the first movements of three representative quartets, including the rarely heard original version of opus 18 no. 1. And all parties join in lively and illuminating conversations that range from details of bowing and articulation to Beethoven's development as a composer to the social history of the nineteenth century. "Inside Beethoven's Quartets" illustrates how scholarly knowledge can inform a performance, as well as how performers' interpretive choices can illuminate this sublime music.

Studies of the genesis of musical, literary, and theatrical works. Not only the final outcome but the process of creative endeavor has long attracted attention in various artistic disciplines, but only recently has the potential of such research been seriously explored. The most rigorous basis for the study of artistic creativity comes not from anecdotal or autobiographical reports, but from original handwritten sketches and drafts and preliminary studies, as well as from revised manuscripts and typescripts, corrected proof sheets, and similar primary sources. The term "genetic criticism" or "critique genetique" relates not to the field of genetics, but to the genesis of works of art, as studied in a broad and inclusive context. The essays inthis volume explore aspects of genetic criticism in an interdisciplinary context, emphasizing music, literature, and theater. A common thread pertains to the essential continuity between a work and its genesis. This volume bringstogether essays from leading scholars on subjects ranging from biblical scholarship to Samuel Beckett, and from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony to very recent musical compositions. Contributors: Nicolas Donin, Daniel Ferrer, Alan Gosman, R. B. Graves, Joseph E. Jones, William Kinderman, Jean-Louis Lebrave, Lewis Lockwood, Geert Lernout, Peter McCallum, Armine Kotin Mortimer, and James L. Zychowicz William Kinderman is Professor of Musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Joseph E. Jones is visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Beethoven's many surviving sketchbooks bear witness to the vast creative labor that lay behind the musical masterpieces he left to posterity. Among them, one of the most famous is the ""Eroica"" Sketchbook, containing all the known sketches for the ""Eroica"" Symphony, the ""Waldstein"" Sonata, and other works of 1803-04. These include his first sketches for the opera Leonore (later entitled Fidelio), as well as the unfinished opera Vestas Feuer, the oratorio Christus am Oelberge, the Triple Concerto, songs, keyboard compositions, and early sketches that later bore fruit in the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. It also contains ideas for works that were never completed. The ""Eroica"" Sketchbook is essentially a diary of Beethoven's creative work during one of the great turning points in his career. As such, this edition deepens our understanding of Beethoven's creative process, and offers new insights into some of Beethoven's most celebrated works. This edition makes available both a complete facsimile and transcription of the sketchbook for the first time, along with a detailed commentary on the origins, contents, and significance of this vitally important source.

Based on extensive documentary and archival research, Music in Renaissance Ferrara is a study of the rise of music at a vital center of Italian Renaissance culture, focusing on the patrons and musicians whose efforts gave Ferrara a primary role in European music during the fifteenth century. The successive rulers of the Italian city-state, members of the Este dynasty, brought to Ferrara some of the most important composers of the period, including Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Martini, Jacob Obrecht, and Josquin Desprez. Moreover, Ferrara has long been famous as the seat of activity of three of the most important poets of the period - Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso - as well as for its school of painting and manuscript production and illumination. With Lewis Lockwood's Music in Renaissance Ferrara, the city-state steps forward as a major musical center as well.
Winner of the Otto Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Society for its original 1985 edition, this current paperback edition of Music in Renaissance Ferrara features a new preface that re-introduces the book and reflects on its contribution to our modern knowledge of music in the culture of the Italian Renaissance.

Music examples and charts illustrate the analyses, and each essay is fully annotated by the editor. in some cases, the results of the original research by the editor or by others working in the field are published here for the first time. Much of the material has never before appeared in English. A score embodying the best available musical text. Historical background what is known of the circumstances surrounding the origin of the work, including (where relevant) original source material. A detailed analysis of the music, by the editor of the volume or another well-known scholar. Other significant analytic essays and critical comments, exposing the student to a variety of opinions about the music."

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.