The Creation of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies

This book offers a unique investigation of Beethoven's symphonies, reconstructing their creation through the most extensive study of Beethoven's sketches yet. It provides a clear overview of the creation of each symphony, placed within the context of musical life in Beethoven's Vienna. It also covers Beethoven's unfinished symphonies, which helped to provide the fertile soil from which the finished ones grew.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 20 February 2024
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Beethoven's nine symphonies are a cornerstone of Western classical music, revolutionizing it. Composers succeeding Beethoven found their output measured against this master's work. But how did his symphonies come into being and how did they reach their final form? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Barry Cooper has been one of the leading advocates of the need for extensive studies of Beethoven's sketches, and we see him here applying his usual investigative rigor to the study of the symphonies. For most of the symphonies, the sketches have not previously been fully examined. In contrast, Cooper's book provides a much deeper exploration of these sketches, along with autograph scores, corrected copies, and first editions, while the Beethoven correspondence offers additional information on the first publication and performances of the symphonies. The result is a clear overview of the creation of each symphony in turn, placed within the context of musical life in Beethoven's Vienna. Another strand of the investigation covers Beethoven's unfinished symphonies and how they helped to provide the fertile soil from which the finished ones grew. Most of those did not progress beyond a few bars, but two, known as No. 0 and No. 10, were sketched extensively. This book, therefore, offers a unique investigation of the composition of the entire corpus of Beethoven's symphonies, reconstructing their creation from Beethoven's rather than posterity's viewpoint.

Beethoven's nine symphonies are a cornerstone of Western classical music, revolutionizing it. Composers succeeding Beethoven found their output measured against this master's work. But how did his symphonies come into being and how did they reach their final form? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Barry Cooper has been one of the leading advocates of the need for extensive studies of Beethoven's sketches, and we see him here applying his usual investigative rigor to the study of the symphonies. For most of the symphonies, the sketches have not previously been fully examined. In contrast, Cooper's book provides a much deeper exploration of these sketches, along with autograph scores, corrected copies, and first editions, while the Beethoven correspondence offers additional information on the first publication and performances of the symphonies. The result is a clear overview of the creation of each symphony in turn, placed within the context of musical life in Beethoven's Vienna. Another strand of the investigation covers Beethoven's unfinished symphonies and how they helped to provide the fertile soil from which the finished ones grew. Most of those did not progress beyond a few bars, but two, known as No. 0 and No. 10, were sketched extensively. This book, therefore, offers a unique investigation of the composition of the entire corpus of Beethoven's symphonies, reconstructing their creation from Beethoven's rather than posterity's viewpoint.

Weight: 1g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781783277919