The Symphonies of Beethoven

By Robert Greenberg

1996

First Published

4.56

Average Rating

838

Number of Pages

25H35M

Audio Length

Ludwig van Beethoven is justifiably acclaimed as one of the most revered composers in the history of Western music-a genius once characterized as a "Titan, wrestling with the gods." There is no better way for you to understand the full impact of that description than to not only listen to all nine of his magnificent symphonies, but to do so with a full understanding of what this great composer was saying and the circumstances that drove him up to and beyond what had once been considered the limits of musical expression. The 32 lectures that make up this detailed introduction to Beethoven explores each of his symphonies in depth, explaining the gifts of musical communication that made this composer unique. Even without any previous musical training, you'll be able to grasp the absolute directness that made his work so accessible, the sheer emotional power that could never be ignored, and the ways in which his ideas were revolutionary on every level. Beginning with an introduction to Beethoven the man and the musical and societal forces that shaped his development, you'll explore his breathtaking harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, formal, dramatic, self-expressive, and emotional. And you'll come to understand how and why this man was able to lead music into a totally new era as he dispensed with the restraint of 18th-century Classicism to usher in the era of romantic self-expression - even as his own ability to even hear what he was creating was progressively and tragically vanishing.

Avg Rating

4.56

Number of Ratings

209

5 STARS

67%

4 STARS

23%

3 STARS

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Robert Greenberg

Author · 34 books

Robert M. Greenberg is an American composer, pianist and musicologist. He has composed more than 50 works for a variety of instruments and voices, and has recorded a number of lecture series on music history and music appreciation for The Teaching Company. Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.