Beethoven: His Spiritual Development

by J.W.N. Sullivan

Mass Market Paperback Mentor Book (The New American Library) (1949)

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Classical Music, Art, Biography Memoir, Religion

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

John William Navin Sullivan was a popular science writer and literary journalist.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red river, red river
Slow flow heat is silence
No will is still as a river
Still. Will heat move
Only through the mockingbird
Heard once?
T.S. Eliot, Virginia.

Beethoven was as bipolar as me. His musical RAGE was the direct result of the Voice of the Bourgeois Mockingbird - "heard once."

The stifling slow flow iron will of the bourgeois world upon us stifles us and outlaws our dissent - just as it did to Beethoven in the 19th century.

Did Beethoven win (and can we ever win in a tightly controlled world) over their endless mocking put-downs?

You betcha.

But only SPIRITUALLY!
***

And this is the story of Beethoven's spiritual victory over his mocking oppressors: the iron Fates!

I read it when I was twelve, in one of those Quonset Hut buildings schools used in the sixties to accommodate us Baby Boomers.

It put fire into my heart.

As a luckless Aspie I was living a luckless life. The adult world went right over my head.

Beethoven's will to succeed reminded me of talking philosophy with my mom, as a toddler, with the Eroica Symphony playing.

She told me never to surrender.

So I never have!
***

Folks, you have it in You to bust apart the log jam you have inherited from your stifling middle class education!

Your books point out the way...

And this incredible little book will help you find it.

[Jay Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as I have recently discovered classical music. In particular I have enjoyed Beethoven's Late String Quartets, to which a large percentage of this work is dedicated. It focuses on the nature of art, genius, science and philosophy. But more than anything it discusses Beethoven's emotionally rich and complex music in the framework of spiritual development/growth. It does NOT require any deep understanding of music theory, composition etc. In fact, those well versed in those areas may be disappointed in the lack of technical analysis. It's a quick read and I recommend listening to the referenced pieces/movements as you move through the chapters. Muss es sein? En muss sein!

[Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing I've read could be ever more painful that the last four chapters of this book.

J.W.N. Sullivan has provided a marvelous and unparalleled account of how Beethoven's rich inner life shaped his music and the most authentic analysis of the man behind the music. I would recommend this to every Beethoven scholar or fan who is genuinely interested in knowing more about the Romantic composer who was praised in this book not for his only for his god-like qualities (which are undeniably present anyways), but for his "beyond-the-level-of-humanity" existence that expressed states of consciousness other works of art, music and ultimately, mankind have yet to achieve.

[William Bies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ludwig Beethoven will ever remain the composer of choice for those inclined to a cerebral disposition. Here, we shall touch on the distinctive features of his style fleetingly in order to meditate on another question, namely as to the nature of the artistic temperament that makes it possible. We can be fortunate that the music critic J.W.N. Sullivan has devoted a short work to the issue – a veritable classic of its kind, entitled Beethoven: His Spiritual Development (originally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1927). A quick comment regarding the author himself: based solely on the internal evidence of this work, Sullivan himself happens not to be overtly religious but is highly cultured and sensitive, hence appropriate to his biographical subject in Beethoven.

What to learn from Sullivan: a characteristic of Beethoven’s style, with its early, middle and late phases. An instructive experiment would be to listen to all of the violin sonatas in chronological order, straight through, or to all of the string quartets. If one ventures to do so, he will be struck by how Beethoven’s distinctive voice emerges part way through and the musicality comes alive, so to speak, with the Spring sonata (Op. 24) or with the Rasumovsky quartets (Op. 59). For his artistry excels at thematic development in contrast with the strophic style popular since Renaissance times, which one can discern the late Hadyn and late Mozart striving to overcome. Beethoven transcends the confines of the sonata form itself in his last piano piece, the monumental Op. 110 – what a catharsis, when, after the two hands have long been widely separated by about as many octaves as the keyboard will embrace, the right hand descends into the final resolution! But nothing can compare to the sublime strangeness of the late quartets in which our composer transports us into almost another imaginative universe.

To listen to Beethoven is to participate in a sustained meditation, or perhaps better said, to feel a musical argument impose itself with all the inevitability of a mathematical demonstration. One senses something continually at work in the composer’s mind and conceives an anticipation for where he will lead us. In theoretical terms, the innovative information per unit time must surpass that of almost any other composer, with the possible exception of J.S. Bach. Maybe a computer scientist versed in pattern recognition could even quantify a claim such as this!

The present work opens with a first book on the nature of music in general: sections on art and reality, music as isolated and music as expression. A major concern is scientific materialism versus aesthetic perceptions, the former coming to be seen as unnecessary and insufficient: in his view, the time has come for an ‘adequate’ aesthetic criticism not predicated on a scientistic outlook. For artistic organization reflects factors of reality not captured by science. Indeed, music has a revelatory function and connects with emotions, too:

The highest function of music is to express the musician’s experience and his organization of it. The whole man collaborates to make the composition. That the experience cannot be communicated in other terms is not surprising. Music shares this peculiarity with all the other arts. [p. 34]

Amongst musical phrases are some which do more than please our musical faculty. They stir other elements in us; they reverberate throughout a larger part of our being. [p. 43]

Sullivan’s main stress is on the divide between pure versus program music and he asserts that Beethoven falls in the latter camp. In the second book, he takes up the connection of art with the spiritual temperament of the artist. Beethoven is an outstanding example since, unlike Bach, Haydn or Mozart, he presages what was to come in the Romantic era (Berlioz etc.). Unlike what is the case with modern civilization which goes so far to obscure the necessity of suffering for most, at least over the greater span of life before the terminal decline, Beethoven knew the depths of suffering and depression, verging on if not descending into the twilight of madness:

The chief characteristics of the fully mature Beethoven's attitude towards life are to be found in his realization of suffering and in his realization of the heroism of achievement. [p. 63]

Beethoven's capacity for a deep and passionate realization of suffering necessitated, if he were not to be reduced to impotence, a corresponding capacity for endurance and an enormous power of self-assertion. [p. 65]

For Beethoven faced the challenge of overcoming deafness, a paradoxical fate for a musician. His response is registered in the Heiligenstadt testament as well as in his compositions from that period themselves:

The Beethoven of the C minor symphony finds the meaning of life in achievement in spite of suffering. Fate is an enemy to be defied. Hie Beethoven of the last quartets finds that the highest achievement is reached through suffering. Suffering is accepted as a necessary condition of life, as an illuminating power. [pp. 67-68]

Another theme is Beethoven’s overcoming of the arrogance that was natural to him as a child prodigy and accomplished young man:

All this made an excellent setting for the morality of power. Beethoven’s real strength, his contempt for others, and his success, must have made this doctrine thoroughly congenial to him. He was, in fact, admirably constructed to be an exponent of the morality of power. But a higher destiny was reserved for him. [p. 101]

Up till now, as we see quite clearly from the letters, Beethoven's reaction to the impending calamity was defiance. He felt that he must assert his will in order not to be overcome. He would summon up all his strength in order to go on living and working in spite of his fate. “I will take Fate by the throat”….But only when the consciously defiant Beethoven had succumbed, only when his pride and strength had been so reduced that he was willing, even eager, to die and abandon the struggle, did lie find that his creative power was indeed indestructible and that it was its deathless energy that made it impossible for him to die. This new and profound realization of his nature is the most significant thing in the famous Heiligenstadt Testament, written in the autumn of this year, but not discovered till after his death. It marks the complete collapse of the old morality of power, and shows the experiences that made possible the erection of a new morality of power on the ruins of the old. [pp. 107-109]

This document marks a crisis in Beethoven's life. Never again was his attitude towards life one of defiance, where the defiance was an expression of what is called his “strength of character”. He had no such need of defiance, for he no longer had any fear. He had become aware within himself of an indomitable creative energy that nothing could destroy. [p. 113]

What difference does Beethoven’s learning to ‘accept his suffering as in some mysterious way necessary’ [p. 115] make for his art?

In most of Beethoven’s early music his experiences of life enter, not as a mastered and synthetic whole, but as moods. He may be sombre, melancholy, gay, or anything else, but these alternations in a composition have no organic connection. [p. 130]….The first piece of music he composed that has a really profound and important spiritual content is the Eroica symphony….The most profound experience that Beethoven had yet passed through was when his courage and defiance of his fate had been followed by despair. He was expressing what he knew when he made the courage and heroism of the first movement succeeded by the black night of the second. And he was again speaking of what he knew when he made this to be succeeded by the indomitable uprising of creative energy in the Scherzo. Beethoven was here speaking of what was perhaps the cardinal experience of his life, that when, with all his strength and courage, he had been reduced to despair, that when the conscious strong man had tasted very death, there came this turbulent, irrepressible, deathless creative energy surging up from depths he had not suspected. [pp. 134-136]

In Beethoven’s earlier work we are dealing, for the most part, with experiences which are not only fundamental but universal. This is what is meant by some writers when they call this music more “objective” than his later work. The spiritual content of the most characteristic of Beethoven's “second period” work may be summed up as achievement through heroism in spite of suffering. [p. 251]

Still, he has to be tested. In what is a common experience for those who have only just begun to advance in the spiritual life, Beethoven imagined himself to have arrived at a permanent solution to the enigma of his calling when in reality he was only in the initial stages of a long journey:

In this symphony [the seventh] Beethoven seems to have emerged into a region where the spiritual struggle that had obsessed him for years is finally done with. Conflict and anguish, to say nothing of despair, are completely absent from this symphony. The hard road to victory, it would appear, has been trodden for the last time. [p. 166]….And, indeed, his triumph was premature. He was to find that the fruits of victory he imagined to be within his grasp were not for him. His courage and resolution, that had taken him so far, were not enough. He had to learn submission and endurance. [p. 170]

Why? Up to then in his life, Beethoven could still harbor hopes for romantic love and marriage. Eventually he was forced to resign his hopes:

At the time that he wrote the Hammerclavier sonata, finished in 1818, Beethoven's realization of his essential loneliness was terrible and complete. But we may suppose that even then he was becoming aware that his separation from the world was the entry into a different and more exalted region. But the Hammerclavier sonata is the expression of a man of infinite suffering, of infinite courage and will, but without God and without hope. [pp. 205-206]

That state [in the Adagio] of what we can only call serenity based, not on any turning away from suffering, but on its acceptance, is sufficient justification, surely, for the experience portrayed in the first movement. So great a degree of understanding, in which nothing is ignored, is worth, it would seem, whatever price has been paid for it. But there is a state beyond, a condition of almost superhuman ecstasy, as Beethoven had already revealed to us in the last movement of the last pianoforte sonata. [p. 216-217]

But this inner world to which Beethoven had now retreated, although it no longer owed anything to fresh contacts with the outer world, was nevertheless a living and developing world. It not only contained elements which he had never before explored, but also elements that had never before existed. The last quartets testify to a veritable growth of consciousness, to a higher degree of consciousness, probably, than is manifested anywhere else in art. [p. 223]

Sullivan’s extended analysis of the late string quartets [pp. 229-247] is excellent – “strange seas of thought”; “unsuspected islands and even continents”. [p. 226]. For instance, this passage:

The fugue [Op. 133] has been called an expression of the reconciliation of freedom and necessity, or of assertion and submission, and the terms may pass since they suggest the state of consciousness that informs the fugue, a state in which the apparently opposing elements of life are seen as necessary and no longer in opposition. Beethoven had come to realize that his creative energy, which he at one time opposed to his destiny, in reality owed its very life to that destiny. It is not merely that he believed that the price was worth paying; he came to see it as necessary that a price should be paid. To be willing to suffer in order to create is one thing; to realize that one’s creation necessitates one’s suffering, that suffering is one of the greatest of God’s gifts, is almost to reach a mystical solution of the problem of evil, a solution that it is probably for the good of the world that very few people will ever entertain. [pp. 232-233]

Finally, Sullivan comments on the ultimate resolution Beethoven reaches late in life:

Its greatness depends on what we have called its spiritual content, and this is something that the listener perceives directly, although he may be entirely unable to formulate it. [p. 249]….It is only the very greatest kind of artist who presents us with experiences that we recognize both as fundamental and as in advance of anything we have hitherto known. With such art we make contact, for a moment, with “The prophetic soul of the wide world/Dreaming on things to come”. It is to this kind of art that Beethoven's greatest music belongs and it is, perhaps, the greatest in that kind. [pp. 250-251]

It so happens that Beethoven's last complete work, the quartet in F major, Op. 135, makes a fitting end to his great series of explorations. It is the work of a man who is fundamentally at peace. It is the peace of a man who has known conflict, but whose conflicts are now reminiscent. [p. 254-255]

A couple comments to close:

1) Sketch of why a conventional academic career is incompatible with artistic resp. intellectual greatness. In order for one possessed of an independent, frequently contrarian, scientific spirit to flourish, he would have to chart a course just the opposite of what everyone else does to get ahead, viz., keeping abreast of fashionable literature and producing a steady stream of more or less superficial developments from it. It may not be idle to ponder what might be the repercussions of a system of professional recruitment that favors exclusively a Mozartian genius, capable of spinning out a continual supply of brilliant, if stylized, papers, to the disadvantage of the Beethovenian, which agonizes over every turn and refuses to repeat itself – but for anyone at the brink of an academic career it is a life-and-death question. To pursue the musical analogy, since this recensionist has not Beethoven’s precociousness, he could compare himself rather to César Franck, who composed his first symphony only at sixty-five. What use to point out that no one else thought of the technique of transcendental variation?

But virtue is known by her fruits. In literature and the arts, it is simply accepted that one just starting out must be content to remain unknown and unsupported until, by dint of extraordinary effort, he produces a great novel or equally promising series of artistic works that might serve as a ticket to recognition on the public scene. That things should be otherwise in the natural sciences represents something of an historical anomaly, rooted in the prestige that physics attained during the second world war and the consequent generous governmental funding it received in the post-war era. The ideal, still intact, that a natural scientist ought to go straight from his doctorate to a tenure-track position (possibly with the intervention of a post-doctoral appointment), could be sustained as long as the university system was expanding and grants were readily available. Nowadays, the tenure-track system is breaking down under the strain of having too many applicants for too few open positions, leading to an inevitable distortion of incentives: for if one wishes to appear a plausible candidate with a stellar curriculum vitae, one certainly cannot risk anymore trying to found an original research program that might take years upon years to mature. And the health of the field as a whole suffers thereby. For the individual, however, the question comes down to one of intellectual integrity. Suffice it to say that it is highly unlikely that anyone could ever achieve happiness, even if outwardly successful, by disowning his own ideas and conforming with the crowd. Therefore, anyone who still aspires to the artistic greatness of a Beethoven must reconcile himself to leaving academia after obtaining his doctorate – or, at most, after a terminal post-doctoral fellowship – and pursuing his own research in spare time, as long as it takes. To suggest anything else would be to abuse the credulity of youth. That is why one can be inspired by the firmness of character and willingness to endure hardship that Beethoven’s witness displays, in Sullivan’s account here.

2) A comment on the significance for mystical theology of Beethoven’s spiritual development, as traced by Sullivan? As a rule, the state in life in which one realizes one’s vocation ought to correspond to one’s endowment and proclivities; cf. Cicero:

Quae contemplantes expendere oportebit, quid quisque habeat sui, eaque moderari nee velle experiri, quam se aliena deceant; id enim maxime quemque decet, quod est cuiusque maxime suum. [De officiis, I.xxxi.113]

If we take this into consideration, we shall see that it is each man’s duty to weigh well what are his own peculiar traits of character, to regulate these properly, and not to wish to try how another man’s would suit him. For the more peculiarly his own a man’s character is, the better it fits him. [Walter Miller’s translation in the Loeb classical library]

Against this dictate of worldly wisdom, we may oppose the paradoxicality of divine providence. For God does occasionally give people a calling contrary to natural inclination – the more so, the more he requires of his follower whom he wishes to favor. Therefore, one can be encouraged by Beethoven’s courage in the face of his fate, to become deaf yet not succumb to despair. Another touch point in the same vein would be Franz Schubert’s late song cycle, the Winterreise: driven out into the wilderness by the denouement of an unfortunate love affair, the protagonist, through all the variations of mood, eventually finds his way to something like reconciliation with his fate, contentment enough to keep on going (if not itself the fullness of inner peace) – a bellwether sign of an invariable law of the spiritual life, that one must suffer a necessary loss as condition of spiritual fertility:

In all truth I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest. Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [John 12:24-25]

A hint at the cruciform nature of the divine aesthetic, totally different from the human – unless one be brave enough to become a disciple of Jesus. Now Beethoven, for all the unconventionality of his religious temperament, does know the paradox of dispossession and accept it – we have as proof, the indescribable eerie magnificence of his late phase!

[Karen Shilvock-Cinefro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasant small book reflecting a well thought out analysis of the spiritual development of Beethoven. Published in 1927 written by a man born in 1886 to a poor Irish sailor. The author was educated at the University College in London studying mathematics and the philosophy of science. He enjoyed playing the piano and his statements throughout the book are enjoyable and definitely interesting to musicians with open minds to the thoughts of not necessarily a musical expert but rather a music lover.

[Jack Feise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently enjoying. First part is quite dense with philosophy/music theory. The part about Bach having religion as a way to explain suffering (sounds a lot like Bakhtin's лазейка) I'm not quite sure about... will have to think on that one more. As far as having an excuse to relisten to some of Beethoven's great works as they are cited - big fan. Also using the 4th movement of the 7th Symphony in a discussion about how Beethoven gets no play was amusing, even if the amusement was unintended from Sullivan (probably unrequited). Gets biographical towards the middle... sorry Beethoven but Mozart has a more interesting bio... at least you lived longer!

[Ryan Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty disappointing. I was hoping for a psychoanalysis of Beethoven based on his bizarre, gushing correspondences, but instead I got a bunch of platitudes about his steadily rising genius and his superhuman ability to truly feel the most sublime spiritual states and translate those into music that lay people can access. I don’t think people still write biographies like this anymore.

The actual details of Beethoven’s life were pretty scant, and this focused more on the evolution of his music. I wanted more about his obsession with his nephew and conventional family relationships and why those were out of reach for him. I liked the criticism of individual works, especially the late string quartets, but I was annoyed by his defense of the canonical favorites (Symphonies 5, 7, and 9) while bashing Symphony 6.

[Wholly_Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early 20th c. Notions of Spiritual

It appears to me that the author was thinking of spiritual in terms of the spirit of the man who endured torment as well as quite lofty aspirations. It does not make reference to mystical experience or even intention. And that is fine, but it was a little misleading. Nevertheless , once I figured out where the author was coming from, I found this very positive take on the musical genius--which is sometimes in short supply among biographies to sensationalize the negative qualities which it sounds like he had in a very Germanic sense. I got some good insights into Beethoven and found the book and informative read.

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book. Insights are given into different pieces of music and, whether you agree with him or not, it is a fascinating journey. I would have taken issue with some things if I'd been having a discussion with him. For instance he says that string quartets are the 'most sincere' forms of expression and opera the least. As an opera lover I feel that for me it touches the heart in the very deepest place, and therefore, at its best must be totally sincere. Maybe it just belongs to OTT people like me. :D

Minor quibbles aside this is well worth the read.

[Gille Liath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is also published as 'Beethoven - His Spiritual Development' a title which tells you that this is not the usual 'in 1810 he did this, in 1812 he did that' sort of book. Regarded by some as a classic of music criticism, it's really a study of the nature of genius in the person of Beethoven; 'spirituality' is to be understood in a generic sense, relating to Beethoven's capacity for a 'higher organisation of experience'.

But of course, most of what J Sullivan thinks he knows about Beethoven, and particularly his 'great soul', is inferred from his music, and we all know that music is very subjective; is not Sullivan really telling us about himself, then? For example, personally I think the thematic unity claimed within each of Beethoven's last quartets - which for Sullivan are the paradigm of B's greatness - could be seen only by someone who was pre-determined to see it. The third movement of Op132, for example, must surely strike awe into anyone who hears it, but what have the other four movements to do with it? I am utterly unconvinced by the journey Sullivan claims to trace through them. And then, curiously, he adds that 'we' are not capable of fully sharing such a prayer of sombre thanksgiving as that third movement. How, then, does it succeed in saying anything to us? Actually I for one have had moments in my life of which this movement is the perfect musical expression.

That indeed is Sullvan's thesis: that great artists experience more than the rest of us, higher heights, deeper depths, middler middles. I can see how that is a seductive idea for artists, and even more for the professional critic: secretly he may exempt himself from the rule he has stated and tell himself that, even if he doesn't share the creative capacity of the great, he - and not the rest of mankind - shares their sensibility. But I don't think it's true. Artists may be more sensitive but I don’t believe their experience is fundamentally different, in extent or in kind, from that of others. The whole power of art rest, in fact, on our ability to recognise the experience the artist relates - otherwise it is pointless.

Beethoven is the musician of victory and progress, and as such is less amenable to our after-the-goldrush era than Sullivan's. Even the latter admits that his music is not the most beautiful, though he says it is the most great. Is that another way of saying that it is impressive, but not so much enjoyable? Granting that there is a place for art which is more challenging than fun – and a similar thing could be said about Shakespeare – isn't true greatness that which, while stimulating the senses by technique, is also able to satisfy the soul? Sturm und Drang can never be the final word. In Beethoven’s quartets – his piano sonatas are to some extent a different matter – I hear labour, struggle and sadness, but not that reconciliation and acceptance which is the final wisdom (and which Mozart, at a much earlier age, seemed to have achieved). The Op130 fugue which Sullivan thinks 'explains the ways of God to man', for example, frankly does my head in.

I would also have to question his judgement of Beethoven's character and conduct. There is little about these to command admiration; but to his arrogance, egotism, shady dealings, apparent misogyny, unwarranted interference in others' lives and driving someone almost to suicide, Sullivan's bottom-line answer is 'by their fruits shall ye know them'. In other words, no-one who could compose such music can be really morally unsatisfactory; or failing that, at least the music excuses his sins. I just don't think that's good enough as biography.

In Sullivan's day, nearly 100 years ago now, the pre-eminence of Beethoven was taken for granted almost as much as had been the Newtonian physics recently exploded by Einstein (and to which Sullivan refers at the start of the book - Einstein himself believed he was 'one of the few in England to have understood it', but judging from this I'm not sure he really had). But perceptions even of him can develop and change, so that now we can respectably (and respectfully) hold the belief that 'Beethoven was wrong'.

There's obviously a lot to come to grips with in this short work; I remain unconvinced by much of what Sullivan says, and Beethoven remains of limited appeal to me both as a composer and a man; but there can be no question that the book is intelligent, thought-provoking, and likely to send you back to the music. Certainly, if you're at all interested in Beethoven, why go around the houses? This book gets straight to the heart of what he is about.

[Allen Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sullivan’s insightful study of Beethoven’s music and spiritual development is for scholars and laymen. I enjoy classical music but have no musical knowledge other than my likes and dislikes. Sullivan knows his subject so well and coupled with superb communication skills he has written an informative and enjoyable book. I came away with a greater appreciation of Beethoven and a greater understanding of music. This enjoyable read is nearly 100 years old. I guess that makes it a classic.

[Laura L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a boring book and I felt like it took forever to read. I thought I would learn more about Beethoven. However, it dealt with his virtues, character and poor health. Despite his musical genus he financially did not reap. He seemed to be an unhappy individual who wanted to find love & marry but never did.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despiser of persons.
Lover of Humanity

[Ivan Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best book ever on Beethoven. Packed with brilliant insights touched with great warmth and humanity.

[Coby Friesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Dear Beethoven❤️

[Alea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be best read as a study which included listening to the works discussed.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving the 5 stars to Beethoven and his spirituality - which is always a search, not an achievement.

[Adam K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my, this short book is such a gem! In it, we get an ingenious theory of expression, an outline of Beethoven’s life and an elucidating analysis of his major works with a focus on his later pieces, particularly the quartets.

According to Sullivan, music communicates not the composer’s experiences but his or her attitude. So, the meaning of music is not to tell us of events but to show us the sum total experiential reaction of the artist. In other words, music can not express anything extra musical like, for example, beliefs. But, music can express states of mind which those beliefs arouse. Specifically, music is not about expressing the situations that Beethoven was in. Rather, music expresses his response to these.

Similarly, in this book we read that musical experiences form a world of their own, and do not directly refer to anything in the outside world. Sullivan argues that even though Beethoven has sometimes given poetic titles to his works, these tell us little and are, in fact, arbitrary. And, as far as programme music is concerned, we deal with musical representations. Musical analogs, like we find them in the pastoral symphony, are just that: imitations. Music, programme or otherwise, does not portray images of the external world. All it does is depict musical experiences that can at best remind us of something non musical.

Overall, this is a pretty good notion of musical expressions with the only flaw, that it does not account for how music expresses the spirit of the composer. Nevertheless, Sullivan, I think, is right to dispel any extra musical material from the music itself, contrary to Beethoven himself. Afterall, instrumental music can hardly mean something in terms of concrete images or messages. Yet, music, especially Beethoven's, is no doubt expressive. I think Sullivan is onto something, and I could only wish his theory would be a bit more elaborated upon. This is especially so given that Sullivan stumbles upon the missing element of his expression theory when he discusses programme music and its imitations.

These considerations aside, the rest of the book deals with mapping events in Beethoven's life to his psychological states, and finding their expression in his music. Hence the talk of the major phases of the masters career, one of which is the submission to his faith. From a man who believes victory lies in the end, Beethoven’s greatest works are said to be a result of surrendering to whatever might come. Namely, loneliness, gradually worsening health, and financial struggles.

This is a very convincing way to relate the man to the art, and a great way to enrich the understanding and enjoyment of the music. The takeaways from this book are the considerations of nature of music, and the rich contextualisation of the works enhanced with excerpts from Beethoven’s letters. Stimulating reading.

[John Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exemplary "entry-level" introduction to Beethoven's life and music, this little book is still in print* almost a century after its first publication. Sullivan rarely assumes musical knowledge or expertise on the part of the reader but discusses Beethoven's major works in terms of what they mean to us and how they reflect the composer's deepening understanding of existence in response to the crises in his life.

Inevitably the book shows its age here and there: Sullivan tends to see humanity as evolving towards some higher ideal; and there's a Victorian whiff to his chiding Wagner for depicting eroticism. Some readers will question his evaluations of J. S. Bach, Mozart and Shakespeare vis-a-vis Beethoven. Others may find outmoded his division of Beethoven's career into three main periods. Some of the biographical details can now be called into question. But these are minor quibbles. His discussions of the works themselves are simple, eloquent and illuminating ("a fierce joyousness" in the Scherzo of the Ninth Symphony, "sorrow without hope, sorrow for what is irrevocable, and a longing for what has not been and never can be" in the Cavatina of the B-flat quartet, Op 130; Sullivan does find more in the slow movement of the third Rasoumovsky quartet than I've usually heard in performance).

Juxtaposing his interpretations of the music with accounts of the main events in Beethoven's life, Sullivan convincingly argues the case for a composer of intense tragic power, "more than Bacchic" joy, and intense and elusive spirituality.


* Vintage paperback, still available

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

As consumers we tend to forget that what we enjoy comes from the suffering of others. By this I don't just mean that dirt poor wages in Latin America give us cheap bananas, but the finer things come at a cost, too, in this case the music of Beethoven. As a consumer you listen to the music, love it, and yet don't have to live through the pain that aroused it in the first place. Listening costs you nothing. In a sense it almost seems like irresponsibility or hearing a secret you weren't supposed to know, and one could make the argument that simply enjoying what came with such a heavy psychological price tag is even immoral. I won't make any judgments, but I will say that humans as a species still need great producers and creators if life is to be at all tolerable. There's a good pain in great music. It brings the world into a mystical unity and resolves worldly pain through its transcendence.

why are tears so sweet to the sorrowful? ~St. Augustine


P.S. The book was good, too dependent on the author's interpretations and a bit outdated, but still full of insights into the man and his music.

[david · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There was nothing in this man, either natural or acquired, to blunt his perceptions. And he was not merely sensitive; he was not merely a reflective mirror. His experiences took root and grew. An inner life of quite extraordinary intensity was in process of development until the very end..."

had been working on this book off and on for a couple of years, though it is a short volume. it has felt incomplete and not quite the esoteric work i was hoping for; however, i hope to revisit this at a later time, reading it without hiatus so as to get a more complete view.

[Norwood Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very entertaining insight into the mind of Beethoven. The author uses many primary sources, including Beethoven's letters; however, much of the book is purely speculative. I found the first third of the book, very dense and not as enjoyable. This book is for die hard fans of Beethoven, but probably not the average music fan.

[Cy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful perspective of Beethoven's inner life, but was based rather much on speculation for my taste, and the author's bias came out pretty strong, though I agree that Beethoven is a magnificent composer, it isn't necessary to repeat "a composer of Beethoven's scale" so often. I did like the emphasis on Beethoven's struggles and how his music transformed in relationship to them.

[Kadie Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good study of the language of music for a "wannabee musician" :)

[Phyllis Jennings]

Difficult, but worth the effort.

[Erkki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faboulous, insightful book.

[Stargazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiled by some nutter pencilling tick marks all down either margin - why?? Why mark a library book anyway? Dickhead.

[Grace Best-Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like an esoteric doctoral thesis. I found it unreadable, and I even like esoteric stuff!