The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies
Beethoven Course Syllabi
The following are examples of syllabi for Beethoven courses taught in the United States. These course outlines were submitted by the instructors with the understanding that other teachers would be allowed to use them as guides for planning similar courses. The syllabi given below have been 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)
| Undergraduate non-music majors | Undergraduate music majors |
| Graduate students | Adult or Continuing Education |
Courses for undergraduate non-music majors
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
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 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.
Syllabus and Assignments
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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