In response to his busy creative work and the gradually worsening deafness, Beethoven gradually developed the habit of composing music with sketchbooks and planning chapters from 1790 onwards. Initially, the draft was only scattered sheet music paper, but later the blank sheet music paper was consciously cut and bound into a book for recording.
The composer has kept these drafts so that they can be read at any time at all stages of creation, becoming an important reference for personal music creation.
One of the manuscript pages of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony shows the starting theme of the four tones
They show that Beethoven's enthusiasm for creating symphonies was not intermittent, but was always upheld after his creative art matured. For Beethoven, symphony composition was his life's work.
The large number of draft records left by Beethoven provide an important historical reference for music lovers, and the American music historian and Beethoven music researcher Lockwood rigorously analyzes and interprets the draft, and writes the book "Beethoven's Symphony: An Artistic Vision", which opens up a new space for readers to glimpse Beethoven's creative ideas and practical methods.
Beethoven's Symphony: An Artistic Vision
By Louis Lockwood
Translated by Liu Xiaolong
Shanghai Music Publishing House
Beethoven's Symphony: An Artistic Vision is a collection of Louis Lockwood's research and scholarly reflections on drafts and manuscripts of Beethoven's symphonies over the past six decades.
Through this book, the author tries to tell the reader that these seemingly scattered draft notes prove that Beethoven's symphony composition, like his other musical works, was not achieved overnight by talent, but after a long period of creative brewing - once Beethoven has determined the macro direction of creation, he will carefully plan the entire work and design a clear and accurate "road map" for himself.
The book repeatedly emphasizes Beethoven's creative enthusiasm for symphonies at different times, because he left behind a large number of draft symphonies that were not unfolded in the end, the number and scale of which far exceeded people's imagination. This fully shows that the nine symphonies finalized by Beethoven are carefully selected creative works, and his repeated consideration and revision of musical details in the creative process are clearly recorded in different drafts and manuscripts.
In the book's afterword, Lockwood cites the admiration of The Beethoven Symphony by the intellectual elite in New England in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, and the story of Jews performing the Fifth Symphony in the Polish Exclusion Zone during World War II in the twentieth century, as a practical proof of Beethoven's influence in modern society. These two examples, which are separated by a hundred years, reflect the spiritual strength that people of different eras drew from Beethoven's music and gave new cultural significance. Not only that, but they also reveal a distinctive feature of Beethoven's artistic diffusion, that is, his music always gives people spiritual help in times of hardship and danger, which is also a valuable quality cherished by the author of this book.
Beethoven in 1806, painted by Isidore Nugos
The struggle, forbearance, pain and confusion shown in Beethoven's works have never hidden his persistent pursuit of light and joy, and this enthusiasm for life has brought long-term comfort to people.
Recommended ✦
" Louis Lockwood's vivid exposition of Beethoven's music is unparalleled. An achievement of excellence. ”
—Alan Gilbert
Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
"Lockwood is a great gift to music lovers. Through observation of historical contexts (the listening group of Beethoven's music, the composer's reading material, and the planning of the composition of the symphony, etc.), the reader can gain a unique perspective on the creative process of this great composer. ”
--Yo Yo Ma
Cellist
"This remarkable book is not just a guide to Beethoven's Symphonies. Lockwood takes us into the work of a composer, revealing the unwavering determination of a perilous individual to art, thus creating a great legend of the human spirit. ”
—Scott Burnham
Professor of Music History at Princeton University
●"Lockwood reveals to us a wealth of fascinating details with his elegant writing, immersing each symphony in the context of Beethoven's other genres and performances. Luckily, even! ”
—Emanuel Ax
pianist
"The remarkable Beethoven expert traces the composer's lifelong efforts in the field of symphonies to give new meaning to the well-known Ninth Symphony and to remind us why these musical achievements are still in the attention of contemporary audiences two hundred years later." A superb achievement. ”
—R. Larry Todd
Professor, Duke University School of Arts and Sciences
Author and translator of this book✦
By Louis Lockwood (right)
Translator: Liu Xiaolong (left)
Lewis Lockwood is an American music historian and Beethoven music researcher. He has held faculty positions at Princeton University and then Harvard University, and is currently the VanNy Peabody Professor of Music Retired at Harvard University.
Liu Xiaolong is an associate professor in the Department of Musicology at the Central Conservatory of Music and a scholar of Western music history.
Reprinted from Shanghai Music Publishing House