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Beethoven Course Syllabus

The following is a syllabus of a Beethoven course taught in the United States. We welcome outlines were submitted by other instructors with the understanding that other teachers would be allowed to use them as guides for planning similar courses. The syllabi listed here will be added to the Beethoven Center's web page with only minor editing of format. If you have questions about the content of the course, the readings, etc., please contact the instructor.

To submit a course syllabus, please send a Microsoft Word file (if possible) or a paper copy to:
Webmaster, Beethoven Center, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0171)

CORNELL UNIVERSITY Course for undergraduate non-music majors
Music 263: Beethoven (Spring 1997)
Professor James Webster; teaching assistant Alessandra Campana
Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:15-12:05, plus one section to be arranged.

Prerequisite: Any three-credit course in music, or permission of the instructor. The ability to read music on an elementary level and a rudimentary understanding of technical musical concepts will be helpful, but neither is required; the necessary technical information will be covered in the course.

• Reading List
• Required Listening
• Papers and Exams
• Syllabus and Assignments

Reading required for purchase:

Maynard Solomon, Beethoven

Recommended for purchase:

M. Hamburger, ed., Beethoven: Letters, Journals, and Conversations

Other volumes on reserve:

Letters, pictures, and contemporary accounts
Beethoven, ed. Anderson, Letters, 3 vols.
Beethoven, ed. Tyson, Selected Letters
Sonneck, ed., Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries
Bory, ed., Ludwig van Beethoven: His Life and His Work in Pictures
Landon, ed., Beethoven: A Documentary Study

Biographies and general surveys

Thayer, ed. Forbes, Life of Beethoven, 2 vols.
Kerman and Tyson, The New Grove Beethoven
Arnold and Fortune, eds., The Beethoven Reader
Cooper, ed., The Beethoven Compendium
Riezler, Beethoven
Solomon, Beethoven Essays

Sketches and the compositional process

Mies, Beethoven's Sketches: An Analysis of his Style
Cooper, Beethoven and the Creative Process

Reception history

Comini, The Changing Image of Beethoven
DeNora, Beethoven and the Construction of Genius
Burnham, Beethoven Hero
Analytical and critical studies

General

Tovey, Beethoven
Tovey, Essays and Lectures on Music
Dahlhaus, Beethoven: Approaches to His Music
Kinderman, Beethoven

Orchestral

Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis

vol. 1, Symphonies
vol. 2, Symphonies
vol. 3, Concertos
vol. 4, Illustrative Music

Beethoven, ed. Forbes, Symphony No. 5 (with readings)

String Quartets

Kerman, The Beethoven Quartets
Winter & Martin, The Beethoven Quartet Companion

Sonatas

Tovey, A Companion to Beethoven's Piano Sonatas
Newman, Beethoven on Beethoven: Playing His Piano Music His Way

Important Reference Works and Periodicals

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 20 v.
The Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS)
The Journal of Musicology (JM)
The Musical Quarterly (MQ)
19th-Century Music (19CM)

Listening: The heart of this course in the music. You are responsible for all the works of Beethoven listed below (which comprise those assigned for listening in the detailed syllabus); the midterm and final examinations will test your familiarity with them. (Your may well wish to move ahead with the listening before the actual due dates, in part so as to leave time for review before the examinations).

For the midterm (March 13)

"Egmont" Overture
Symphony No. 2 in D, first movement
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, first movement
Funeral Canata on the Death of Joseph II, first and fourth movements
Piano Sonata No. 7 in D, Op. 10, No. 3
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ("Pathétique")
Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat, Op. 22, first movement
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Moonlight")
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 ("Tempest")
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat ("Eroica")
String Quartet in F, Op. 59, No. 1
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ("Appassionata")

For the final exam:

String Quartet in C, Op. 59, No. 3, first movement
String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 18, No. 6
Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 70, No. 2
Wellington's Victory
An die ferne Geliebte
Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Missa solemnis
Symphony No. 9 in D minor
String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

Two papers, approx. 5-7 double-spaced pages each:

The Film Immortal Beloved and Beethoven's Biography

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: The "Story"

Examinations: One midterm and one final. They will cover both the basic information in the reading and the listening, as measured by (a) your recognition of passages drawn from the required works, and (b) your ability to estimate the genre, date, etc., of "unknown" selections. In addition, the final may include an essay question focusing on a problem or issue developed in the course.

The reading and listening assignments given below are due on the dates specified.

Tuesday, Jan. 21: Why Beethoven?

Thursday, Jan. 23: Beethoven's milieu: the social context

Reading:

Tia DeNora, "Beethoven, the Viennese Canon, and the Sociology of Identity" (course packet)
Solomon, Beethoven, Chapter 6
Listening: Beethoven, "Emont" Overture

Tuesday, Jan. 28: Beethoven's milieu: the cultural-intellectual context

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, Chapters 4, 9
William Kinderman, "Overture," from Beethoven (course packet)

Thursday, Jan. 30: Beethoven's milieu, the musical context

Reading:

Barry Cooper, ed., The Beethoven Compendium, pp. 72-93 (supplementary course packet)
DeNora, "'From Haydn's Hands': Narrative Constructions of Beethoven's Talent and Success" (course packet)

Listening:

Haydn, Symphony No. 104 in D ("London"), first movement and finale
Beethoven, Symphony No. 2 in D, first movement

Tuesday, Feb. 4: Reception: "Beethoven Hero"

Reading:

Alessandra Comini, The Changing Image of Beethoven, Chapter 1 (supplementary course packet)

Thursday, Feb. 6: Principles of musical form in Beethoven's time

Reading:

James Webster, handout on musical form (supplementary course packet)
Donald Francis Tovey, Beethoven, pp. 12-13, 28-40, 73-85 (course packet)

Listening:

Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K. 503, first movement
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, first movement

Tuesday, Feb. 11: Beethoven in Bonn (1770-92)

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapters 1-3, 6

Listening:

Funeral Canata on the Death of Joseph II, movements 1 (chorus), 4 (soprano + chorus)

Thursday, Feb. 13: Sonata form

Reading:

Webster, "Sonata Form," from the New Gove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (course Packet)
Tovey, "Sonata Forms," from Musical Articles from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (course packet)
Tovey, Beethoven, pp. 86-95

Listening:

Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, first movement (cf. Webster)

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," first movement (cf. Tovey)

Tuesday, Feb. 18: The "three periods"

Reading:

Joseph Kerman and Alan Tyson, "The 'Three Periods'," from The New Gove Beethoven (course packet)
K.M. Knittel, "Imitation, Individuality, and Illness: Behind Beethoven's Three Styles" (course packet)
Webster, "The Concept of Beethoven's 'Early' Period in the Context of Periodizations in General" (course packet)

Thursday, Feb. 20: The "early" music in Vienna (1793-99)

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapters 8, 10

Listening:

Piano Sonata No. 7 in D, Op. 10, No. 3
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ("Pathetique")

Tuesday, Feb. 25: The "new path" "Quasi una fantasia" (1800-02)

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapter 11
Lewis Lockwood, "Reshaping the Genre: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas from Op. 22 to Op. 28 (course packet)
Tovey, "Some Aspects of Beethoven's Art-Forms" (course packet), pp. 280-88 only

Listening:

Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat, Op. 22, first movement (cf. Tovey)
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Moonlight")

Thursday, Feb. 27: Beethoven as pianist; Beethoven's pianos (with Malcolm Bilson)

Reading:

William S. Newman, Beethoven on Beethoven: Playing His Piano Music His Way, pp. 17, 28-30, 45-62, 76-82 (supplmentary course packet)

Listening:

Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 ("Tempest"), first movement

Tuesday, March 4: The "heroic style" (1): The Eroica Symphony

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapters 12-13

Listening:

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat ("Eroica")

Thursday, March 6: The "heroic style" (2): other genres (1803-08)

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapter 14

Kerman, The Beethoven Quartets, pp. 89-116 (course packet)

Listening:

String Quartet No. 7 in F, Op. 59, No. 1 (cf. Kerman)
Sonata No. 23 in F minor ("Appassionata")

Tuesday, March 11: Beethoven's sketches; the responsibility of the artist

Reading:

Cooper, Beethoven and the Creative Process, pp. 1-16 (course packet)
Alan Tyson, "Sketches and Autographs" (course packet)

Thursday, March 13: MIDTERM EXAM

[Spring break]

Tuesday, March 25: Beethoven and tradition

Listening:

Haydn, String Quartet in C, Op. 33, No. 3, first movement
Mozart, String Quartet in C., K. 465, first movement
Beethoven, String Quartet in C, Op. 59, No. 3, first movement

Thursday, March 27: NO CLASS MEETING. Attendance is required at the string quartet concert this evening at 8:15 in Barnes Hall Auditorium (free admission); works of Haydn, Schubert, and Beethoven (Op. 18, No. 6)

Listening: String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat, Op. 18, No. 6

[Weekend of March 28-30: Screening of the film Immortal Beloved; cf. Paper No. 1]

Tuesday, April 1: Beethoven and biography; the "Immortal Beloved"

Reading:

Carl Dahlhaus, Beethoven: Approaches to his Music (course packet), pp. 1-13 only
Solomon, Beethoven, chapter 15

Thursday, April 3: New paths (1809-14): intimacy and ideology

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapter 17

PAPER NO. 1 DUE IN CLASS

Tuesday, April 8: Beethoven and song

Listening:

Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 70, No. 2
Wellington's Victory

Thursday, April 10: Song-cycle: An die ferne Geliebte

Reading (to be announced)

Listening:

An die ferne Geliebte

Tuesday, April 15: Unity and transcendence: the Fifth Symphony (cf. Paper No. 2)

Reading:

E.T.A. Hoffmann, review of Symphony No. 5, transl. in Forbes, ed., Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (course packet)
Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis, vol. 1 (course packet)
Lawrence Kramer, Music and Poetry, the Nineteenth Century and After, pp. 234-41 (course packet)
Webster, Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style, pp. 174-97 (parts) (course packet)

Listening: Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Thursday, April 17: "Late" Beethoven (1816-27)

Reading:

Solomon, Beethoven, chapters 19-21
Theodor W. Adorno, "Beethoven's Late Style" (course packet)
Dahlhaus, Beethoven, pp. 202-6, 219-20 (course packet)

Tuesday, April 22: The Missa Solemnis

Listening: Missa Solemnis

Thursday, April 24: The Ninth Symphony

Reading:

Solomon, "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: A Search for Order" (course packet)
Susan McClary, Feminine Endings, pp. 124-31 (course packet)

Listening: Symphony No. 9 in D minor

Tuesday, April 29: The late string quartets

Reading:

Tovey, "Some Aspects of Beethoven's Art-Forms," pp. 271-80, 288-97

Listening: Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

Thursday, May 1: Does Beethoven Have a Future?

PAPER NO. 2 DUE IN CLASS

 

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