This comprehensive guide to the Ninth Symphony offers insight into more than just the composition and structure of Beethoven's monumental work. It explores the controversial realm of period instruments and performance techniques, and challenges old assumptions about the sound and meaning of the music. Levy surveys and distils the latest research on the Ninth Symphony - material inaccessible to most general readers - and sets forth the elements that give this composition its pre-eminence as a symphony and the artistic choices that make it a monument of Western music. Levy begins in the present with the recent performances and interpretations on the Ninth. He then moves back in time to Beethoven's day to chart the progress that led the composer to produce, over a ten year period, the finished manuscript in 1824. The heart of the book is a clear, concise examination of the music itself. Through musical examples and analytical charts, Levy illuminates the inner workings of the Ninth for scholars and devotees alike. He shows how the Ninth cast its long shadow on the 19th century, and explains why this work continues to move and inspire audiences today.

Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony (Monuments of Western Music)

Arts & Photography

Levy, David Benjamin

Music

Schirmer

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a masterpiece that has influenced virtually every Western composer since its premiere, has become associated with the marking of momentous public occasions. In 1989, Chinese students played its finale through loudspeakers in Tiananmen Square, and Leonard Bernstein led a performance in Berlin to celebrate the razing of the Berlin Wall. This lively and up-to-date book focuses on Beethoven’s Ninth, exploring the cultural and musical meanings that surround this powerful work of genius.
David B. Levy sets the scene with a brief survey of nineteenth-century Germanic culture and society, then analyzes the Ninth symphony in detail with special emphasis on the famous choral finale. He discusses the initial performances in 1824 under Beethoven’s direction and traces the symphony’s critical reception and legacy. In the final chapter of the book, Levy examines interpretations of the work by prominent conductors, including Wagner, Mahler, and Weingartner. A fully annotated discography of selected recordings completes this comprehensive volume.

Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony (Revised Edition)

Reference

Yale University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levy, David Benjamin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Levy, David Benjamin