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Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies (Dover Books On Music: Composers) Paperback – Illustrated, November 21, 2012

by George Grove (Author)

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This classic of music analysis by a noted musicologist offers revealing insights into Beethoven's personality and music. George Grove, the founding editor of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, interweaves fascinating background information on the composer's historical era with quotations, letters, and anecdotes. He examines the nine symphonies in chronological order, movement by movement, illustrating his points with numerous excerpts — more than 400 in all.
In addition to emphasizing the uniqueness of Beethoven's music and its iconoclastic renunciation of established musical theory, Grove comments at length on the relation of the symphonies to the minor works, events in the composer's personal life, the conditions under which he worked, and other fascinating details. Examples of Beethoven's correspondence include several letters to the Countess Theresa and the famous letter to his brothers Carl and Johann.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dover Publications
Publication date

November 21, 2012
Dimensions

5.41 x 0.8 x 7.96 inches
ISBN-10

0486203344
ISBN-13

978-0486203348
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Grove (1820–1900) was an English writer on music and the founding editor of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications; 3rd Revised ed. edition (November 21, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0486203344
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486203348
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.41 x 0.8 x 7.96 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #730,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #325 in Music Appreciation (Books)
- #1,354 in Classical Music (Books)
- #1,781 in Music History & Criticism (Books)

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26 ratings

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SaguaroGeorge

All you ever wanted to know about the greatest body of symphonic music of all time

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

A wonderfully complete analysis of all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies with copious musical examples. It does assume that you can read a musical score of the time. The print, of letters and of musical notation, is remarkably good for a book published in 1898; better, in fact, than many books published today.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

The text of this book is old going back to the 19th Century. The analysis is still relevant since it is the only analysis from this era. Accordingly, it is somewhat difficult to read because of the archaic writing style.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

Great book!! I wish it was in hardcover but of course Dover Books doesn't really do hardcovers but it's very nice, very legible, readable typescript and fonts, nicely done. It's a small sized book, not the regular Dover size of 8" x 11", this one is like 6" by 9" so it does fit great in your hands for a very personal reading experience.

3 people found this helpful

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Adolpho Benevides

Excellent!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

Although over one century old it is the best guide one can have for the Beethoven symphonies. Good to have besides you when listening to those extraordinary works.

2 people found this helpful

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An Early Study of the Beethoven Symphonies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 23, 2014

The following review was posted October 23, 2007, on an earlier printing of this title. I reposted the review after reading Jan Swafford's large new biography, "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph" Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph and reviewing it here on Amazon.

Sir George Grove (1820 -1900)is best-known as the writer of the original "Dictionary of Music and Musicians" which, with its many updates and versions over the years, has become the standard English reference work on classical music. In 1896, Grove wrote "Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies" which, unlike the "Dictionary" is still read today in the form in which Grove wrote it. I have recently returned to Grove's study as a guide in listening to and reviewing the Beethoven symphonies in the recordings by David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and have learned a great deal.

Grove's book is written in an accessible late-Victorian style. He devotes a chapter to each of the nine symphonies. He begins with a summary of the instrumentation, publication history and early metronome marks of the symphonies. Grove offers material on Beethoven's life at the time each symphony was composed and describes Beethoven's compositional process. He offers information on early performances and on the reception of each work, including a great deal of commentary from the works of later composers.

But the highlight of the study is Grove's movement-by-movement analysis of each symphony. It is a difficult skill to write about music in a way that amateurs may follow; and Grove succeeds admirably. He gives the score for the principal themes and highlights of each movement and discusses them in a way that anyone with a basic skill in reading music can follow easily. I used Grove many years ago when I was just coming to the Beethoven symphonies, and I continue to learn from his book. Much of what Grove says is still current in studies of the symphonies. For example, in discussing the Seventh Symphony, Grove aptly describes it as the most romantic of the nine, and he points out how the rhythm of the symphony may be scanned in terms of the meters and "feet" of poetry. Maynard Solomon has made the same points in detail in his essay on the Seventh Symphony in his recent book "Late Beethoven".

In addition to the musical analyses, Grove writes with great passion about Beethoven and his work. His study is replete with allusions to the works and writings of other composers that illuminate his analysis of Beethoven. He also gives a great deal of biography, some of which must be used with caution as Grove relied on the biographical writings of Anton Schindler about Beethoven. Schindler has been discredited as as source by modern scholars. Grove has a partiality for large-scale romantic performances of Beethoven, and I don't think he would have been overly impressed with the modern Zinman performances that I just heard and greatly enjoyed. For example, his book is full of strictures against performing Beethoven too fast.

Grove clearly shares the prevailing Nineteenth Century view that Beethoven was the greatest of all composers in the depth, variety, structure, and moods of his symphonies. Grove's enthusiasm and love for his subject is eloquent. He concludes his book as follows:

"These great works he did as no one ever did, and probably no one ever will.... Music will advance in richness, scope, and difficulty; but such music as Beethoven's great instrumental works, in which thought, emotion, melody, and romance combine with extraordinary judgment and common sense, and a truly wonderful industry, to make a perfect whole, can hardly any more be written. The time for such an event, such a concurrence of the man and the circumstances, will not again arrive. There can never be a second Beethoven or a second Shakespeare. However much orchestras may improve and execution increase, Beethoven's Symphonies will always remain at the head of music as Shakespeare's plays are at the head of the literature of the modern world."

Some readers in the early 21st Century may question Grove's adulation of Beethoven. Be that as it may, Beethoven's symphonies have remained an inspiration to an untold number of listeners, including myself, and will almost certainly remain so. Grove's book remains highly valuable for those wanting to explore in detail the richness of the Beethoven symphonies.

Robin Friedman

10 people found this helpful

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Joseph Scott

Great analyses of Beethoven's symphonies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 17, 2006

This classic in the field of music analysis is a great source of ideas for anyone interested in serious study of Beethoven's symphonies. George Grove is one of the great musicologists of the 19th century; he is also the editor of the well-known "Dictionary of Music and Musicians."

An intermediate level of musical knowledge is necessary to appreciate the text. It is full of musical illustrations, but the terminology Grove uses is probably not too jargony for a knowledgeable lay-reader or amateur musician.

Grove also includes biographical information along with the analyses, making for a great overview of or introduction to Beethoven's symphonies.

13 people found this helpful

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Alan Beggerow

A Classic Of Music Analysis

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2004

This is a reprint of the 3rd edition of 1898, but that fact should not deter anyone from purchasing it. It remains an excellent analysis of Beethoven's 9 symphonies. Along with copious music quotations of the symphonies, the author has integrated some history of Beethoven's historical times and quotes letters and anecdotes that reveal not only the music but the personality of this composer.
The author's knowledge of the scores of the symphonies is extraordinary. For anyone with more than a passing interest in the symphonies of Beethoven, I can't think of a better book for the money. While it is impossible to name any composer as the greatest, Beethoven must be acknowledged as one of the great architects of musical form and expression. George Grove's book underlines the genius of this composer, and is highly recommended

30 people found this helpful

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