Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Beethoven's Century
  • Hugh MacDonald, Universities of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Glasgow, Washington University, St. Louis. and Boston and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras
Publisher:
Boydell & Brewer
Online publication date:
September 2012
Print publication year:
2008
Online ISBN:
9781580467155
Subjects:
Music, Music Criticism
Information

Book description

In 'Beethoven's Century: Essays on Composers and Themes', world-renowned musicologist Hugh Macdonald draws together many of his richest essays on music from Beethoven's time into the early twentieth century. The essays are here revised and updated, and some are printed in English for the first time. 'Beethoven's Century' addresses perennial questions of what music meant to the composer and his audiences, how it was intended to be played, and how today's audiences can usefully approach it. Opening with a revealing analysis of Beethoven's not always generous regard for his listeners, the essays probe aspects of Schubert's musical personality, the brief friendship between Berlioz and Schumann, Liszt's abilities as a conductor, and Viennese views of Wagner as expressed by Hugo Wolf. Essays on comic opera and trends in French opera librettos in the late nineteenth century reflect the author's long-standing sympathy for French music, and strikingly eccentric personalities in the world of music, such as Paganini, Alkan, Skryabin, and Janácek, are brought to life. 'Beethoven's Century' concludes with a wry look at some startling developments in early twentieth-century music that have often been overlooked. Hugh Macdonald has taught music at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Glasgow, and since 1987 has been Avis H. Blewett Distinguished Professor of Music at Washington University, St. Louis. He has written books on Skryabin and Berlioz, and is a regular pre-concert speaker for the Boston and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras.

Reviews

Macdonald's curiosity is boundless...and he satisfies it with unfailing scholarship and wit....He gives the most thorough account yet of Hugo Wolf's complicated critical attitude to Wagner in a musically complicated Vienna...Depth of thought and high critical intelligence...mark all these essays, and make them an invigorating read. Raise your glass to Hugh Macdonald!'

John Warrack Source: Opera

These are gems in the genre of the literary-musicological essay. . . . Macdonald's wit emerges frequently in this volume. . . . I learned a great deal, and my attention and interest never wavered. A must read for anyone interested in modern French music and musical life.'

Glenn Stanley Source: H-France

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.