BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONIES

Lewis Lockwood’s brilliant exploration of the unswerving artistic vision underlying Beethoven’s symphonies, from one of the world’s leading scholars of the composer’s works.

The Beethoven symphonies form the core of the classical concert repertoire and remain among the defining works of the Western musical experience. As the heir to Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven possessed an abiding artistic vision that found its most powerful expression in the symphonic form, which he revolutionized and bequeathed to posterity. Lewis Lockwood’s compelling story introduces each symphony as an individual artwork and broadly traces the creative background of each, set against the contemporary political upheavals, the growth of concert life, and the relationship to major works of his in other genres. In concise chapters, Lockwood uncovers a creative process of remarkable scope and originality, including reference to numerous symphonic ideas sketched out but not realized. From the first symphonies, written during Beethoven’s emerging deafness, to the monumental Ninth, his lifelong passion to compose works of transcendent aesthetic and moral value are brought vividly to life. Lewis Lockwood taught at Princeton University and Harvard, where he is Fanny Peabody Professor of Music Emeritus. His Beethoven: The Music and the Life was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.