Beethoven: The Pastoral Symphony

by David Wyn Jones

Overview

Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is in many ways his most startlingly original. It has a programmatic content, it is in five movements, and its mood is quite different from the usual barnstorming image of the composer. Why did he want to compose such a work? Why did it take him five years to realize his vision? What was he hoping to communicate? How did he achieve it? Finally, how was the work received? David Wyn Jones addresses all these vital questions in a fascinating account of this popular work and the context in which it was written.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521456845
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/23/1995
Series:	Cambridge Music Handbooks
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	116
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.28(d)

Table of Contents

1.The concert of 22 December 1808; 2. Background; 3. Genesis and reception; 4. Design and orchestration; 5. Technique and image; 6. 'Mehr Malerei als Empfindung'.

Editorial Reviews

'... his guide is eloquent in matters of common sense, even as it resists insight by music analysis.... handbooks are not meant to be difficult affairs; they make their subjects accessible by being themselves accessibly written and attractively presented. Weather permitting, David Wyn Jones's Pastoral Symphony will be as readable on a picnic bench as at a library desk.' William Drabkin, The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher