The String Quartets of Beethoven

Author: Edited by William Kinderman

Cloth
978-0-252-03036-9
$75.00

Pub Date:	2006
Pages:	360 pages
Dimensions:	7 x 10 in.
Illustrations:	282 Line Drawings, , 259 Lines of Music

A fresh exploration of perhaps the most important single body of classical chamber music in existence

"We do not understand music--it understands us." This aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno expresses that quandary and the fascination many listeners have felt in approaching Beethoven's late quartets. No group of compositions occupies a more central position in chamber music, yet the meaning of these works continues to stimulate debate. William Kinderman's The String Quartets of Beethoven stands as the most detailed and comprehensive exploration of the subject. It collects new work by leading international scholars who draw on a variety of historical sources and analytical approaches to offer fresh insights into the aesthetics of the quartets, probing expressive and structural features that have hitherto received little attention. This volume also includes an appendix with updated information on the chronology and sources of the quartets and a detailed bibliography.

"In these studies of Beethoven's life and music, Kinderman brings together essays that will please historians, critics, and music theorists. This impressive volume is important not only to the study of the string quartets, but to how we understand Beethoven's music in general."--Christopher Reynolds, professor of music, University of California, Davis

William Kinderman is a professor of music at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His publications include Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Beethoven, and the three-volume Artaria 195: Beethoven's Sketchbook for the Missa solemnis and the Piano Sonata in E Major, Opus 109.