"This book is a great read for expert musicians and for people who can’t read a note of music. It is a very personal, loving view of Beethoven and his last symphony, but it also presents a fascinating historic panorama." – Plácido Domingo
"Harvey Sachs brings to the fabled Ninth Symphony the broadest range yet of cultural and artistic testimony about Beethoven and about art." – Scott Burnham, Professor of Music History, Princeton University and author of *Beethoven Hero
*"Harvey Sachs has written excellent books about music and musicians. Here he turns his—and our—attention to one of the great monuments of music. We think we know this symphony quite well. How wrong we are! This book will help us to understand it better." —András Schiff
"Harvey Sachs is a superb writer, a fine musical mind, scholar, and an astute cultural historian. His new book on Beethoven’s Ninth, written within the world of 1824, is a dazzling display of erudition—and high entertainment!" —David Dubal, professor, The Julliard School, and author of Evenings with Horowitz
The aspect of The Ninth that most consistently impressed critics is Sachs's explanation of this musical masterpiece in a way that is accessible to all readers. They disagreed somewhat on the value of the work's attempt at historical and cultural contextualization, however. A few reviewers found that Sachs overreaches a bit by providing commentary on Beethoven's life from various perspectives, setting him in his historical context, analyzing his music, and then also examining his wider impact. But on the whole, reviewers praised The Ninth as an excellent introduction to the symphony and the man who created it. As the Washington Post noted, "it will send readers to their CD players."
Description:
"This book is a great read for expert musicians and for people who can’t read a note of music. It is a very personal, loving view of Beethoven and his last symphony, but it also presents a fascinating historic panorama." – Plácido Domingo
"Harvey Sachs brings to the fabled Ninth Symphony the broadest range yet of cultural and artistic testimony about Beethoven and about art." – Scott Burnham, Professor of Music History, Princeton University and author of *Beethoven Hero
*"Harvey Sachs has written excellent books about music and musicians. Here he turns his—and our—attention to one of the great monuments of music. We think we know this symphony quite well. How wrong we are! This book will help us to understand it better." —András Schiff
"Harvey Sachs is a superb writer, a fine musical mind, scholar, and an astute cultural historian. His new book on Beethoven’s Ninth, written within the world of 1824, is a dazzling display of erudition—and high entertainment!" —David Dubal, professor, The Julliard School, and author of Evenings with Horowitz
From the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Beethoven wasn't always a cultural icon. At least one critic attending the 1824 premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor likened what he heard to a hideously writhing wounded dragon. Just why the composer and his works endure is the question behind this absorbing book by music historian Sachs (Toscanini). Through detailed musical analysis and condensed readings of cultural politics and 19th-century history, Sachs ponders what role so-called high culture played, plays, and ought to play in civilization. Using the year 1824 and the premiere of the Ninth as ground zero, Sachs reviews the literary, artistic, and social movements of the time, noting how Beethoven's innovative symphony (the first with a vocal score) and its themes of equality and redemption no doubt challenged the resurgent conservatism among Europe's monarchies. Sachs places Beethoven alongside Pushkin, Byron, and other prominent romantics, whose talents he finds linked to a common quest for freedoms—political, artistic, and above all of the mind and spirit. After first presenting the Ninth as a Viennese social event and then as emblematic of Beethoven's artistic process, Sachs shines with a close reading of the Ninth's musical score, interpreting its techniques and emotive narrative. Readers will want a recording nearby. In the book's last chapter, Sachs deals with the impact and legacy of Beethoven's masterwork and explains what makes his music universal. (Apr.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
The aspect of The Ninth that most consistently impressed critics is Sachs's explanation of this musical masterpiece in a way that is accessible to all readers. They disagreed somewhat on the value of the work's attempt at historical and cultural contextualization, however. A few reviewers found that Sachs overreaches a bit by providing commentary on Beethoven's life from various perspectives, setting him in his historical context, analyzing his music, and then also examining his wider impact. But on the whole, reviewers praised The Ninth as an excellent introduction to the symphony and the man who created it. As the Washington Post noted, "it will send readers to their CD players."