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L'ultimo Beethoven: Musica, pensiero, immaginazione
Quali sono le fonti letterarie e filosofiche della Nona sinfonia? Quali letture accompagnarono gli ultimi quindici anni di vita di Beethoven? In sostanza: quale fu il clima culturale ed emotivo in cui visse e lavorò il grande compositore tedesco nell'ultima fase della sua esistenza? Servendosi prevalentemente dell'epistolario, dei diari e dei quaderni di conversazione, Maynard Solomon ricostruisce uno dei periodi più intensi ed enigmatici della produzione beethoveniana, quello, per intenderci, delle Variazioni Diabelli e delle ultime cinque sonate per pianoforte, degli ultimi sei quartetti, delle ultime tre sinfonie e della Missa solemnis. Si profila così un mondo interiore in cui si mescolano filosofia ed esoterismo, mitologia pagana e massoneria, estetica classica e religioni orientali... L'ultimo Beethoven rappresenta un contributo sostanziale alla conoscenza di quello straordinario "sviluppo spirituale" che rese possibili alcune fra le opere immortali del grande musicista tedesco.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Maynard Solomon
27 books33 followersMaynard Solomon was a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer, and later became a writer on music
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 6, 2024
Solomon On Late Beethoven
Maynard Solomon has followed-up his distinguished biography of Beethoven (rev.ed. 1998) with an outstanding study of the music of Beethoven's third period and of the intellectual and emotional changes in Beethoven's outlook that likely contributed to Beethoven's late masterworks. These works include the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, the Diabelli Variations, the final string quartets, including the great fugue, and the final five piano sonatas.
Solomon's biography of Beethoven was both notable and controversial for its psychoanalytical approach. I find that approach mostly lacking here. For his approach to Beethoven's inner life and development, Solomon draws extensively on Beethoven's Tagebuch, which Solomon describes as "the intimate diary [Beethoven] kept between 1812 and 1818 to which he confided his inmost feelings and desires" (p.2). Solomon finds a "sea change" (as he titles his Prologue) in Beethoven's system of belief beginning in about 1810. Following Beethoven's comparatively fallow period as a composer between 1812-1816, this change in Beethoven's beliefs bore its consequences in the works of his final maturity. In general, Solomon finds Beethoven's beliefs changed from the rational, enlightenment, classical thought that characterized, for Solomon, the first and second period works, to a more romantic belief system that focused on inwardness, theology, (I found it fascinating that Beethoven showed awareness of and interest in Eastern thought in the Tagebuch), nature, and imagination. In sum, Beethoven in his final period came more under the influence of romanticism (whatever that notoriously vague term might mean) than is sometimes realized. Furthermore, with his nearly total deafness and the failure of his attempts to establish a lasting relationship with a woman, Beethoven tried mightily to devote his life to the pursuit of his art rather than to his own personal, less exalted ends.
The book consists of twelve chapters, some of which were earlier published, which Solomon has worked into a coherent whole. Of the twelve chapters, seven are examinations of the sources of Beethoven's thought and deal in broad concepts. Thus two chapters explore the relationship between concepts of classicism and romanticism -- highly slippery concepts as Solomon realizes-- and argue that Beethoven's final work and thought show an increased romantic influence -- particularly in its transcendent element. Two chapters discuss the possible influence of Freemasonry upon Beethoven while an additional chapter discusses the increased religious dimension in Beethoven's final works, including the influence of Eastern thought.
The remaining five chapters focus on individual works. The Diabelli Variations receives two detailed chapters. The first chapter explores Diabelli's waltz theme and the attraction it might have had for Beethoven while the second chapter is a detailed analysis of the pattern of each of the 33 variations, including copious musical illustrations. There is an outstanding chapter on Beethoven's opus 96 violin sonata and its source in pastorale. There is a chapter on the seventh symphony (not usually considered a late work) and on the influence it shows of Greek poetical meters, and a thorough chapter on the Ninth Symphony. This description only briefly touches the scope of the book as Solomon has provocative things to say about the last quartets, particularly on the opus 130 quartet and on the question of its two finales: the grosse fugue and the much simpler rondo which Beethoven substituted for it. And, as I mentioned, Solomon says much about the last piano sonatas, the Missa Solemnis and about the song cycle "An die Ferne Geliebte" even though these works do not have a specific chapter devoted to them.
I found it a joy to read this book. It combines a love and emotional understanding of Beethoven's music with deep erudition and a love of learning. Beethoven's music and intellectual development are well-discussed even if the reader finds himself not agreeing with all Solomon's arguments. The book is full of detailed consideration of specific works including quotations from Beethoven's scores. It is probably a book that will be most appreciated by those who have some familiarity with Beethoven's music, particularly the works of the third period, rather than by those coming to the music for the first time.
This is a difficult, challenging, and revealing study of late Beethoven combining scholarship, philosophical thinking, and a love and understanding of Beethoven's music.
Robin Friedman
Maynard Solomon has followed-up his distinguished biography of Beethoven (rev.ed. 1998) with an outstanding study of the music of Beethoven's third period and of the intellectual and emotional changes in Beethoven's outlook that likely contributed to Beethoven's late masterworks. These works include the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, the Diabelli Variations, the final string quartets, including the great fugue, and the final five piano sonatas.
Solomon's biography of Beethoven was both notable and controversial for its psychoanalytical approach. I find that approach mostly lacking here. For his approach to Beethoven's inner life and development, Solomon draws extensively on Beethoven's Tagebuch, which Solomon describes as "the intimate diary [Beethoven] kept between 1812 and 1818 to which he confided his inmost feelings and desires" (p.2). Solomon finds a "sea change" (as he titles his Prologue) in Beethoven's system of belief beginning in about 1810. Following Beethoven's comparatively fallow period as a composer between 1812-1816, this change in Beethoven's beliefs bore its consequences in the works of his final maturity. In general, Solomon finds Beethoven's beliefs changed from the rational, enlightenment, classical thought that characterized, for Solomon, the first and second period works, to a more romantic belief system that focused on inwardness, theology, (I found it fascinating that Beethoven showed awareness of and interest in Eastern thought in the Tagebuch), nature, and imagination. In sum, Beethoven in his final period came more under the influence of romanticism (whatever that notoriously vague term might mean) than is sometimes realized. Furthermore, with his nearly total deafness and the failure of his attempts to establish a lasting relationship with a woman, Beethoven tried mightily to devote his life to the pursuit of his art rather than to his own personal, less exalted ends.
The book consists of twelve chapters, some of which were earlier published, which Solomon has worked into a coherent whole. Of the twelve chapters, seven are examinations of the sources of Beethoven's thought and deal in broad concepts. Thus two chapters explore the relationship between concepts of classicism and romanticism -- highly slippery concepts as Solomon realizes-- and argue that Beethoven's final work and thought show an increased romantic influence -- particularly in its transcendent element. Two chapters discuss the possible influence of Freemasonry upon Beethoven while an additional chapter discusses the increased religious dimension in Beethoven's final works, including the influence of Eastern thought.
The remaining five chapters focus on individual works. The Diabelli Variations receives two detailed chapters. The first chapter explores Diabelli's waltz theme and the attraction it might have had for Beethoven while the second chapter is a detailed analysis of the pattern of each of the 33 variations, including copious musical illustrations. There is an outstanding chapter on Beethoven's opus 96 violin sonata and its source in pastorale. There is a chapter on the seventh symphony (not usually considered a late work) and on the influence it shows of Greek poetical meters, and a thorough chapter on the Ninth Symphony. This description only briefly touches the scope of the book as Solomon has provocative things to say about the last quartets, particularly on the opus 130 quartet and on the question of its two finales: the grosse fugue and the much simpler rondo which Beethoven substituted for it. And, as I mentioned, Solomon says much about the last piano sonatas, the Missa Solemnis and about the song cycle "An die Ferne Geliebte" even though these works do not have a specific chapter devoted to them.
I found it a joy to read this book. It combines a love and emotional understanding of Beethoven's music with deep erudition and a love of learning. Beethoven's music and intellectual development are well-discussed even if the reader finds himself not agreeing with all Solomon's arguments. The book is full of detailed consideration of specific works including quotations from Beethoven's scores. It is probably a book that will be most appreciated by those who have some familiarity with Beethoven's music, particularly the works of the third period, rather than by those coming to the music for the first time.
This is a difficult, challenging, and revealing study of late Beethoven combining scholarship, philosophical thinking, and a love and understanding of Beethoven's music.
Robin Friedman
May 7, 2012
Solomon's study of late Beethoven complements his earlier biography of the composer. Focusing on the spiritual as well as musical development of Beethoven he considers diverse aspects of the composer's belief system and composing methods. Beginning with a chapter on the "Diabelli" Variations the book traverses compositions from the late quartets and piano sonatas to the Violin Sonata in G and the great Ninth Symphony. Along the way there are discussions of the aesthetic dimension of his work and thought, the impact of Masonic thought, and the Illuminati. This interesting analysis, consisting of two chapters, leads Solomon to the following concluding remarks on Beethoven's spiritual perspective:
"It is a fusion of unification of the world's diverse imagery of divinity that fired Beethoven's imagination and creative intellect. Beethoven was not an atheist, as Haydn reportedly once called him in a fit of anger. Nor was he an adherent of any established religion or church. Rather, in the course of a stormy intellectual journey that reached a double bar with the quotation from Sturm in 1818, he revealed his close kinship to those Deists, freethinkers, and Freemasons who managed to locate in every polytheistic pantheon one supreme, omnipotent, ultimately unnamable deity." (p 178)
Both the "Missa Solemnis" and Ninth Symphony are given a thorough treatment. This is a joyous, informative, and thoughtful traversal of the last years of the genius of Beethoven.
"It is a fusion of unification of the world's diverse imagery of divinity that fired Beethoven's imagination and creative intellect. Beethoven was not an atheist, as Haydn reportedly once called him in a fit of anger. Nor was he an adherent of any established religion or church. Rather, in the course of a stormy intellectual journey that reached a double bar with the quotation from Sturm in 1818, he revealed his close kinship to those Deists, freethinkers, and Freemasons who managed to locate in every polytheistic pantheon one supreme, omnipotent, ultimately unnamable deity." (p 178)
Both the "Missa Solemnis" and Ninth Symphony are given a thorough treatment. This is a joyous, informative, and thoughtful traversal of the last years of the genius of Beethoven.
May 29, 2024
Premetto che ad alcuni dei saggi ho dedicato solo una veloce scorsa, senza soffermarmici come su quei capitoli che devo portare all'esame (quindi accantonando i capitoli sulla VII e IX sinfonia, sulla massoneria e sulle immagini romantiche).
Ahimè, ancora devo trovare un musicologo beethoveniano che non tenda ad assorbire le tendenze megalomani di questo compositore. Ludwig van Beethoven è sicuramente un personaggio dalle mille sfaccettature, curioso, quasi un filosofo, che tra lettere, diari e quaderni di conversazione ci ha lasciato mille pensieri, le sue opere sono passate alla storia per questo senso di gigantesca dismisura, per l'intento quasi enciclopedico di raccontare in musica ogni esperienza umana. Solomon, però, nel suo ammirevole lavoro di analisi delle fonti, a tratti espone fatti e teorie con calibrata lucidità (da questo punto di vista, per me è stato molto interessante leggere il capitolo 2, sull'inquadramento di Beethoven a metà tra il Classicismo e il Romanticismo), a tratti si lascia andare in pennellate metafisiche sproporzionate al contesto. Entrambi i capitoli dedicati alle Variazioni Diabelli sembrano un delirio intellettuale, un farneticamento di immagini simboliche che sembrano poggiare sul nulla, quando sarebbe stata sufficiente un'esposizione un po' più ragionata per permettere al lettore di seguire meglio il filo del discorso.
Ahimè, ancora devo trovare un musicologo beethoveniano che non tenda ad assorbire le tendenze megalomani di questo compositore. Ludwig van Beethoven è sicuramente un personaggio dalle mille sfaccettature, curioso, quasi un filosofo, che tra lettere, diari e quaderni di conversazione ci ha lasciato mille pensieri, le sue opere sono passate alla storia per questo senso di gigantesca dismisura, per l'intento quasi enciclopedico di raccontare in musica ogni esperienza umana. Solomon, però, nel suo ammirevole lavoro di analisi delle fonti, a tratti espone fatti e teorie con calibrata lucidità (da questo punto di vista, per me è stato molto interessante leggere il capitolo 2, sull'inquadramento di Beethoven a metà tra il Classicismo e il Romanticismo), a tratti si lascia andare in pennellate metafisiche sproporzionate al contesto. Entrambi i capitoli dedicati alle Variazioni Diabelli sembrano un delirio intellettuale, un farneticamento di immagini simboliche che sembrano poggiare sul nulla, quando sarebbe stata sufficiente un'esposizione un po' più ragionata per permettere al lettore di seguire meglio il filo del discorso.
November 11, 2018
Astonishing and illuminating, Maynard Solomon's brilliant overview and analysis of the "sea-change" that took place in Beethoven's final phase of composition gave me a new appreciation for these final, mind-blowing works, and also a new appreciation of Beethoven the man. This is not biography in a linear sense, but instead kaleidoscopic views of various aspects of the late style illustrated with in-depth analyses of the works that exemplify these traits: How Beethoven apparently sought to revive the rhythms of antiquity in the 7th Symphony; how he darkened the pastoral landscape in the final piano and violin sonata; the startling revelation that Beethoven considered replacing the choral movement of the 9th Symphony (and actually did rejig the Op 130 string quartet and the Hammerklavier Sonata, as though aware of alternative realities and possibilities, and unwilling to commit to one definitive ending). And there is a touching revelation of Beethoven's belief in the power of music literally to heal the spirit. The most intriguing idea for me was the view of the Diabelli Variations as a musical "Pilgrim's Progress" - a view in which we don't have to believe the traditional story of Beethoven taking on a banal little tune just so he could show it up, so to speak.
Some people feel that Solomon (who I believe is also a psychoanalyst) is too speculative and esoteric in his work, because of the use he makes of e.g. psychoanalytic concepts, but I for one find them fascinating and poetic - they "click". He is an old-school polymath - he has at his fingertips a staggering amount of knowledge not just of music but of the arts, world religions, history, philosophy... and he draws on all of this knowledge to contextualize his main subject and to synthesize and draw connections we might never see on our own. I can't get enough of it, frankly. (Yes, I'm a fan.)
This book is arguably for those who've studied music in some depth, and I'm not sure what a casual listener would or could make of it. It assumes fairly in-depth knowledge of the works and an understanding of the tropes of Classicism and Romanticism and the cultural / intellectual / historical context of the period. But, on the other hand, it might just prompt a reader to explore that context, which can only be a positive thing. I also highly recommend his celebrated biography of Beethoven - which is no less scholarly, but definitely more for the informed general reader.
Some people feel that Solomon (who I believe is also a psychoanalyst) is too speculative and esoteric in his work, because of the use he makes of e.g. psychoanalytic concepts, but I for one find them fascinating and poetic - they "click". He is an old-school polymath - he has at his fingertips a staggering amount of knowledge not just of music but of the arts, world religions, history, philosophy... and he draws on all of this knowledge to contextualize his main subject and to synthesize and draw connections we might never see on our own. I can't get enough of it, frankly. (Yes, I'm a fan.)
This book is arguably for those who've studied music in some depth, and I'm not sure what a casual listener would or could make of it. It assumes fairly in-depth knowledge of the works and an understanding of the tropes of Classicism and Romanticism and the cultural / intellectual / historical context of the period. But, on the other hand, it might just prompt a reader to explore that context, which can only be a positive thing. I also highly recommend his celebrated biography of Beethoven - which is no less scholarly, but definitely more for the informed general reader.
June 1, 2018
This endlessly interesting book is more of an exploration of Beethoven's relationship to and with early 19th century German Romanticism than it an explanation of his last years and works. Solomon is an extremely smart, insightful, and readable musicologist who doesn't shy away from ambiguity or the unknowable when digging into Beethoven or his music. Solomon includes lengthy discussions of the Diabelli Variations, Seventh Symphony, Ninth symphony, and Violin Sonata op. 96, as well as shorter looks at the late quartets and piano sonatas. In every case, Solomon made me want to go back and listen to these works again with new ears. I especially liked his explanation of the use of Classical poetic rhythms and the resulting expression of the premises of antiquity in the Seventh Symphony, and his interpretation of the Diabelli Variations as the representation of a physical and spiritual journey.
April 8, 2019
it can be a little self indulgent at times but overall it was a very illuminating read. A good insight into Beethoven's thought and the influence of that on his music.
February 4, 2015
A collection of twelve independent but related essays. The title is somewhat of a misnomer; thie essays are not all concerned with the later Beethoven -- one is an analysis of the seventh symphony and several discuss his entire life. If I had to find one theme that ties the essays together, it would be the Romantic elements in Beethoven; this is the explicit subject of two of the essays, and has some relation to all of them. There are two very interesting essays on Masonic elements in Beethoven as well. Although I didn't agree with everything Solomon wrote, all the essays are very interesting and thought-provoking.
May 10, 2011
Great read......temporality in music!
January 22, 2014
Interesting. Would like more Beethoven, less Solomon.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews