Beethoven's Symphonies Arranged for the Chamber (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781108831758)

Early nineteenth-century composers, publishers and writers evolved influential ideals of Beethoven's symphonies as untouchable masterpieces. Meanwhile, many and various arrangements of symphonies, principally for amateur performers, supported diverse and 'hands-on' cultivation of the same works. Now mostly forgotten, these arrangements served a vital function in nineteenth-century musical life, extending works' meanings and reach, especially to women in the home. This book places domestic music-making back into the history of the classical symphony. It investigates a largely untapped wealth of early nineteenth-century arrangements of symphonies by Beethoven - for piano, string quartet, mixed quintet and other ensembles. The study focuses on three key agents in the nineteenth-century culture of musical arrangement: arrangers, publishers and performers. It investigates significant functions of those musical arrangements in the era: sociability, reception and canon formation. The volume also explores how conceptions of Beethoven's symphonies, and their arrangement, changed across the era with changing conception of musical works.

Author: Nancy November
ISBN-10: 1108831753
ISBN-13: 9781108831758
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/10/2021
Pages: 300
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.42lbs
Size: 9.61h x 6.69w x 0.69d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2022