Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is acknowledged as one of the supreme masterpieces of the Western tradition. More than any other musical work it has become an international symbol of unity and affirmation. Yet early critics rejected it as cryptic and eccentric, the product of a deaf and ageing composer. Nicholas Cook's guide charts the dramatic transformation in the reception of this work. The story begins in Vienna, with the responses of listeners at the first performance, and ends in contemporary China and Japan, where the symphony has acquired diametrically opposed interpretations. The account embraces many of the major figures of nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, among them Wagner and Schenker. Including an account of the sketches, an examination of the performance tradition, and a suggested new interpretation, this book opens up new dimensions in our understanding of Beethoven's last symphony.
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"A key problem with the Ninth, Cook notes, is that we've heard it so often that we no longer truly hear it. This book is an antidote; by examining the difficulties the work has caused auditors right from its premiere, Cook undermines our facile familiarity." Bernard D. Sherman, Fanfare
Book Description
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of the Western tradition, yet early critics rejected it as cryptic and eccentric, the product of a deaf and ageing composer. Nicholas Cook charts this dramatic transformation.
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One of the best known facts about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, if it is a fact, is that the work was many years in the making. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
One of the best known facts about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, if it is a fact, is that the work was many years in the making. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Ken Ward
Format:Paperback
This is a very fine music handbook indeed. Though there is some analysis that benefits from reading the score, the vast majority of the text is easily understood by the layman. By discussing other people's views of the 9th symphony from its first performance to today, throughout the world including China & Japan, it provokes the reader to thought about this symphony that cannot fail to enrich their listening and their appreciation of the extraordinary place it has gained in world culture. His final assertion that 'every interpretation of it is contradicted by the work itself' becomes not an admission of defeat but the entrance to a far more complex and rewarding view of the work than is often presented. I came away from the book wreathed in joyful smiles because it made me want to hear again a work that I had always thought was not only flawed but had also become much too hackneyed, and because the book had provided so much stimulation to intriguing thought about this work and, consequently, all of Beethoven's music.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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Cambridge Music Handbooks are awesome
18 April 2011
By Joe Murray
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Superb series of explorations on this great work. Took me a week to get through the whole thing, but it added immeasurably to my enjoyment of the symphony.
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