Customer Reviews

Beethoven and the Spiritual Path

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Disregard most of what the intellectualising and somewhat pompous reviewers write below. Read this book and be inspired to delve deeper into the music and genius of Beethoven. With the exception of one 5 page chapter (that those below get stuck on!) it is an easy read, and adds an appreciation of the music that other books on Beethoven fail to do well. Whether you are a fan or a beginner this book will bring pleasure.

Tame has captured Beethoven's inner life and creativity, his struggles and desires in an unprecedented way. The book is a masterpiece: it does not get fixated with the technicalitities of classical music, but sheds light on the spiritual source and path underpinning the composition of such beauty. Explaining Beethoven in technical terms may be an easy way of interpreting classical music, but it is simple and mediocre. To shed light on its spiritual dimension - a dimension that enveloped Beethovens' entire being and life requires much depth and sensitivity. Tame has managed this in an extraordinary way. Beethoven was more than a musician and composer. He was a great soul. This books shows how undiversal truths - as opposed to technical skills - inspired and guided Beethoven to produce the greatest music that has ever been.

First thing to notice: Tame's book is published by the Theosophical Society, a 19th century spiritual movement which married Transcendentalism, Hinduism and western occultism, coining terms such as "the Great White Brotherhood" and laying some of the groundwork for the modern "New Age" movement, and whose early 20th c. leaders tried to set the young Krishnamurti up as a new "Avatar" - which Krishnamurti dodged, to his credit.

The 1st half of the book contains a few interesting comments, but in the second half the going gets much wackier. The author embarks on a long series of fantastical program notes, which may be read as his poetical commentaries on the music, such as this:

(Page 129, discussion of 5th symphony)
"All this and more is contained within the tones of the Fifth Symphony, which are first ray tones. The seven rays, often spoken of in esotericism, are the seven aspects or frequencies of God's energy and consciousness which manifest ... as the seven colors of the rainbow, the seven rows in the periodic table of the elements, the seven notes of the diatonic scale, and the seven ... types of crystals. ... The qualities of the first ray are divine will and divine power, and it is these qualities radiating from the Fifth Symphony which emanated directly out of the consciousness of the Elohim of the first ray."

Thinking of this type can be attractive at first glance to those of us who view music in some way as a spiritual path, and look for links between music and esotericism of various schools, but as one reads it becomes clear that this is essentially fantasy writing stimulated by Beethoven's music. Tame is not a musician, and he falls into the common non-musician's trap of considering great music to be divinely channeled and magical beyond the human artist's transcendence of craft. Great music such as Beethoven's - in the opinion of this reviewer - stands on its own merits structurally, emotionally, and spiritually, as a product of the man Beethoven and his time, and does not need David Tame to apply (with a trowel) a thick layer of astrology, occultism, and theosophical drivel.

A much better book is "BEETHOVEN, HIS SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT" by J. W. N Sullivan, which of course Tame has read, refers to, and probably modeled his own efforts after. Although Sullivan also falls into some of the common delusions afflicting non-musicians about great music, he is on the whole much more level-headed, and his psychological comments / insights are of much more solid value than those in David Tame's book. As far as this book goes (David Tame's "Beethoven and the Spiritual Path") forget it if you are interested in Beethoven and / or music-as-a-spiritual-path, and read Sullivan's book instead, along with some biographies. However, if you are interested in Theosophy, this book may give you some insight into modern Theosophical thought.

This book gives a spiritual interpretation of Beethoven the man, and his music.There are various spiritual paths one can take, and I think that Tame tries a bit too hard to fit Beethoven into a particular pattern. Nevertheless,one does not have to accept completely Tame's Theosophical approach to get something out of this book.(I note in passing that there are no diatribes involving yin and yang in the book.Tame discusses these issues but does not bitterly criticise.)Tame does not mention Beethoven's moon sign.In fact it was Sagittarius, thus emphasising his Sagittarian qualities.If we knew the exact time of his birth further insight into his character could be obtained with an accurate birth chart. I must confess that I cannot understand why Tame allocates masculine zodiacal signs to "feminine" symphonies, and vice-versa.I find Tame's argument plausible that Beethoven did not marry because he had a higher calling, that is ,to lift up humankind with his music.This book has increased my understanding of Beethoven and made me itch to get into some serious listening of his works.

This is a curious work, a treatment of two subjects together which few general readers would have thought to be compatible. Unfortunately, it is a most unsatisfactory and weak book as far as its purpose is concerned. The book may be read without loss by neglecting the 'numerological' and 'esoterological' parts altogether. This way it makes for a non-technical discussion of Beethoven's works, much in the spirit of Sullivan's book, which the author often quotes. That, however, is not how the author intends it to be read; if one tries to go along with him, most general readers will find that much of the substance is indeed 'esoteric drivel' as a previous reviewer here has said. It is impossible to give the author or the book any credit at all, if it is seen in the said light of its own purpose - namely, to reveal the 'esoteric' aspects of Beethoven's greatest works - since there are very few readers among the public, I should suppose, who both have had an exposure to the ideas of esotericism, as well as have a capacity to appreciate Beethoven's music. In fact, the number of people in each of these categories (the former in general, and the latter in America) is very small. In fact, one does not even here get a beginner's introduction to the ideas of numerology and esoteric knowledge, if it is to be taken that the author purports to make the general public aware of these. The reader is straightaway exposed to looking at the Master's greatest works through the eyes of an esoteric seeker. However, one may grant the book this much: that it may possibly induce in some Beethoven lovers the desire to find out more about the ideas mentioned. Also, as mentioned, a general reader may well read the book completely omitting the references to them. Read this way (which is the only way the present reviewer can recommend to the general public), the book serves well to exalt Beethoven and place his music where it belongs: in the loftiest planes that one can imagine. For ardent lovers of Beethoven, this work makes for satisying reading, if only because of this glorification of the Master and of his greatest works, and the brief discussions about these, in which they will find echoes of some of their own thoughts and feelings. Not the work of a musicologist, this author presents a faithful view of the essentially spiritual nature of Beethoven's works, and of the sublime metaphysical nature of the late quartets.

I have concluded that it is not by accident that this book in support of its sweeping conclusions about one event or another in Beethoven's life offers no credentials or background on their origins. The very title misleads the reader into thinking that the spirituality of the man in an era when western church values were the norm in Europe would prevail. The reader finds complete confusion in ramblings involving the spiritual path of Beethoven. [The very title of the book!] The text jumps from diatribes involving the 'Yin and the yang' of Beethoven's symphonies to an in-depth astrological sun and moon sign analysis of his music and it's impact on Beethoven's psyche at one time or another. Couple that with lengthy discussions of Beethoven's karma along with Biblical quotations supporting Beethoven's belief in God and Jesus Christ, and you have a totally confused mass of psychic drivel, a readers nightmare.

The only saving grace to some of the topics discussed in the book come from the incorporation of lengthy key passages and critical analysis from such Beethoven authorities as Thayer, von Lenz, Schindler, Ries, Eichoff et al. In these areas, a credible argument for the various conclusions drawn by the author is evident. The conclusions drawn from analysis of Beethoven's circumstances, his friends, their politics, affiliations, and influences of the day seem reasoned and supportable. Drawing on the influences of Freemasonry and the Illuminati in Beethoven's life were insightful and well articulated.

Unfortunately, just when one got a sense of how these influences could have affected the compositions being written or sketched at that moment, one was confronted with some diversion or another - like a discussion of the astrological polarity of one symphony over another! Garbage!

The final straw broke for this reader near the end of the book. It was at this point that the analysis of major individual works of Beethoven began. It was here that one reads of the reflections of the final string quartets written just before Beethoven's death in terms of their numerology. Pages were devoted to explaining the masculine, positive polarity - yang - with the feminine, negative - yin - of each movement. Further expansion on the 'talisman of the secret rays', the five-pointed star, and true meditation borne in the last of Beethoven's great works was offered.

This book should be read only after the prospective reader has done exhaustive reading and studying of Beethoven from highly respected musicological sources. To accept or even consider this book as a definitive study on his life or consider any conclusions drawn in this book, without a prior historical musicological basis of evaluating the esoteric minutia presented; would be an insult to the greatness of Beethoven's genius.

He is rolling in his grave on this one - folks!

Thomas H. Brown, B.M. '74, Westminster Choir College of Music, Rider University, Princeton, NJ