The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven [Hardcover]

Charles Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 1971

The National Book Award-winning masterpiece by a world-class pianist and writer on music.

This outstanding book treating the three most beloved composers of the Vienna School is basic to any study of Classical-era music. Drawing on his rich experience and intimate familiarity with the works of these giants, Charles Rosen presents his keen insights in clear and persuasive language.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written in 1970, this winner of the National Book Award is perhaps the best guide to the music of the late 18th century that the reader is likely to find. Rosen defines classical music (which, in this case, is probably more properly rendered "Classical," as it refers to that specific style) through the music of its greatest geniuses: Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. This is serious stuff, but well worth the effort for the student of classical music. There are many printed musical illustrations; you'll get more out of this book if you read music. This volume has a logical successor in Rosen's The Romantic Generation. A revised version in hardcover is due later this year. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The first edition of this book won the 1972 National Book Award and remained available in paperback for more than two decades. For this edition, Rosen adds a 14-page preface answering some of his friendly critics and a 26-page essay on Beethoven?which includes 44 musical examples, not seen?that emphasizes the composer's indebtedness to Haydn and Mozart. Otherwise, the text of the original edition remains unchanged. A CD (not heard) of Rosen playing two Beethoven piano sonatas (opp. 106 and 110) is also included. Libraries successful in keeping together the book and CD of Rosen's Romantic Generation (LJ 4/1/95) may want to attempt the same with this set, but once the CD is lost, the price seems high for only two new essays if the older edition is still serviceable.?Bonnie Jo Dopp, Univ. of Maryland Lib., College Park
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 467 pages
• Publisher: Viking; First Edition edition (April 21, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067022510X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670225101
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,089,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic writing about Classical music, December 10, 2003

By 

klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

Charles Rosen by now has attained a place among musical analysts on a par with the likes of Tovey and Grout, though his style is very different from either of these luminaries. Taking the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as the pinnacle of the musical style that developed in the late eighteenth-century, Rosen explains how around 1775 there was a decisive shift away from the High Baroque style of Bach and Handel, and why this new music was different. After his general introduction to the style most of the book explores different genres, symphony, opera, concerto and string quartet among them, to create a lucid and multi-faceted picture of how these three great composers approached and solved common musical and formal problems. The new edition adds a preface that addresses criticisms of the original book and an additional late chapter on Beethoven.

Rosen's writing, though it can be dense and repetitive, at its best is unmatched in its ability to relate analysis to what actually is heard by a listener. To this end, an ability to read and understand the copious and detailed musical examples is essential to fully grasping his points--this book is not for the casual amateur. But to those willing to do the work, The Classical Style remains as richly rewarding after three-plus decades as when it first appeared. As another reviewer has mentioned, it is a book one returns to again and again simply for the sheer pleasure of reading it.

65 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I think we need a new book on this subject., July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

This much quoted (and somewhat overrated) book aims at a thorough exposition of the Viennese Classical era, mainly for the lay fan. The goal is obviously laudable, and there are no other similar volumes around, which perhaps partially explains the book's fame. (Rosen's framework does owe a major debt to Tovey's writing, now hard to find.) The book discusses the elements of classical forms and their partial history, and the prevailing cultural climate, but downplays the influence of other composers, and oversimplifies in its distillation of the essence of the style.

Due to the ambitious breadth of material, the book's contents - with a few notable exceptions - remain shallow, at least in the view of someone fairly familiar with both the music and the basic theory as presented in this book. Rosen does sprinkle perceptive remarks throughout, but also too often engages in the typical ramblings of a fan (okay, of an exceptionally well educated fan): Rosen makes pronouncements rather than substantiates his points. Many are pretty much unsubtantiable or bafflingly meaningless anyway - e.g. "Mozart's music is the most sinful music ever composed." (An objective quantitative measure for tuneful sinfulness will hopefully never become anyone's thesis topic.) Since Rosen hardly ever offers serious evidence for his rather sweeping generalizations, a newcomer to the music may not be able to distinguish between more universally accepted assessments and those strongly based on the author's individual taste. (Hint: all the many superlatives in the book are in the latter category!) In addition, there are some dubious technical points, and Rosen engages in a certain amount of standard mythologizing about the composers. So actually, on closer inspection, there's a surprising amount of sloppy thinking in this book.

The basic point of view is that of a unifying classicist's. Rosen ends up more or less equating classical style with 'music with a certain dramatic logic', a huge generalization. Rosen sounds perhaps superficially quite impressive, for instance in discussing the tension created by structural key changes in sonata form. But the book never progresses beyond these basics, readily obtainable from any decent course on the subject. So the reader is left with only a vague understanding of the real techniques used by these composers to produce their effects - whether dramatic in aim or not. (A plain tonic-dominant change in itself doesn't make for a particularly interesting composition.) Rosen also dismisses music not convenient for his definitions, thus somewhat shortchanging Haydn and Beethoven, compulsive innovators both. For example, Beethoven's early period, which contains a wide variety of original, characteristic, often humorous works, and includes some true masterpieces, is ignored as "classicizing" or purely imitative - a strangely tin-eared (and hackneyed) viewpoint.

To me by far the finest sections are the relatively few pages devoted to extended analyses, notably late Beethoven piano sonatas. Here, Rosen avoids generalizations and gets deeper into the music, and these analyses can be quite valuable. (For example, Rosen discusses the true culmination point of the first movement of Op. 106, noticeably missed even by some great pianists.)

This book can be read as an introduction to an era, though the limitations of its presentation make it an iffy choice for those who want a more complete picture. (I would also supplement the initial basic concepts sections.) A better version of this book, with fewer vague statements and opinions, and a steadier concentration on truly explaining the music, would be a great achievement.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough sledding, but worth it, March 6, 2001

By 

Stuart Bloom - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

As a music lover with a superficial knowledge of the technical aspects of music-making, I found this book to be a real challenge. It took me several attempts over the course of a couple of years to get through it. But having expended that effort, I can say that every minute was worth it. I now have a good understanding of what "classical" music (in the stricter definition of "classical") is about, and why its three great Viennese exponents were such masters. I now can listen classical music -- indeed, to any common-practice period music -- with much more insight, understanding, and enjoyment than I could heretofore.