Beethoven's Style Research Articles

Beethoven in B♭: Op. 130 and the Hammerklavier

Abstract Commentators have sometimes remarked on similarities between contemporaneous piano sonatas and quartets by Beethoven, as if the composer were developing ideas at the keyboard before transferring them to other genres. A particularly close connection can be seen, however, between two works in B♭ major that are separated by a greater distance in time: the Piano Sonata in B♭, op. 106 (Hammerklavier) and the String Quartet in B♭, op. 130. Correspondences between the respective first movements are particularly strong, and they suggest that the sonata may have served as something of model for the quartet. Yet the same elements that contribute to a highly integrated structure in the sonata seem to serve quite different purposes in a quartet characterized by a pointed disintegration of normative procedures. A comparison of the two works shows not only how Beethoven's style underwent significant change in the intervening time, but also how the quartet may serve as a critique of the sonata in an act of deliberate stylistic distancing. This brings into question the well established concept of a unified “late” or “third-period” style.

Paying the Piper: Causes and Consequences of Art Patronage.

essays in this collection discuss the conscious sponsorship of the creation, production, preservation, and dissemination of the fine arts; that is, arts patronage (p. 1). In particular, the analytical focus of this skillfully edited volume is on the varieties and consequences of various patronage structures. result is a veritable tour d'horizon of the social, economic, and historical dimensions of this interesting subject: from The Social Basis of Beethoven's Style (Tia Denora) to The Battle for Classical Music on the Air (Richard Peterson); from The Indian Fund and the Patronage of Native American Arts (Kenneth Dauber) to Patronage in the German Democratic Republic: Artistic and Political Change in a State Socialist Society (Marilyne Rueschemeyer). Judith Balfe and Thomas Cassilly provide an interesting case study of the intersection of taste preference and social class with regard to museum volunteers and various other friends. Their argument is that arts organizations that have instituted Friends recognize that this must involve more than just a desire to support the arts. They must also provide opportunities to meet compatible individuals-especially those who are wealthy and socially prominent... collectors and owners of historic buildings that are closed to the (p. 129). In other words, these Friends, for a relatively modest sum, have the satisfaction feeling that they have helped to preserve the best of the nation's patrimony while also having the psychological satisfaction of being able to mingle with some of the prominent collectors and connoisseurs in the country (p. 127). At the other end of the spectrum, Richard Peterson surveys the long struggle to ensure that classical music is presented regularly on radio. Unlike museums with their Friends, public radio stations do not share an aesthetic consensus with either their members or their listeners. As part of the educational emphasis that justified the creation of public broadcasting, classical music has traditionally enjoyed a pride of place in programming. On the other hand, news and public affairs programs have always been present and, among listeners as distinct from members, informational programming is the runaway favorite. In fact, most nonmember public radio listeners do not choose classical music at all (p. 274). Thus the noble experiment pronounced in the fledgling days of radio, that classical music on the air would help the masses acquire a taste for such music and draw many of their number into the concert hall to enjoy live performances, now seems to be a great failure (p. 283). Public issues beget social dramas, as Steven Dubin puts it in his case study of a posthumous portrait of Harold Washington, Chicago's only black mayor, that was displayed in a 1988 exhibit of student work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). He is clothed only in a woman's brassiere, panties, garter belt and hosiery (p. 186). Dubin observes that particular circumstances contribute to the likelihood of controversy

The Age of Beethoven (?)

Research Article| September 01 1940 The Age of Beethoven (?) Richard S. Hill Richard S. Hill Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Bulletin of the American Musicological Society (1940) 4: 19–21. https://doi.org/10.2307/829358 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Richard S. Hill; The Age of Beethoven (?). Bulletin of the American Musicological Society 1 September 1940; 4 19–21. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/829358 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the American Musicological Society Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1940 M. D. Herter Norton Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.