The Symphony in Beethoven's Vienna

A 2006 study of the history of the symphony in Vienna during Beethoven's lifetime.

David Wyn Jones (Author)

9781107405387, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 July 2012

244 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.33 kg

'Remarkable both for the uniquely accessible quality of writing and the depth of scholarship, The Symphony in Beethoven's Vienna by David Wyn Jones, Reader of Music at Cardiff University, is an excellent addition to the world of research on Beethoven's life and times for both the amateur and the more serious Beethoven scholar. …This book puts so many things into perspective that it seems each page leads to a new revelation. …I feel safe in saying this is a magnificent, rare look at the composers who were working in and around Vienna just prior to and during Beethoven's tenure in that city. It puts Beethoven into a unique historical context.' Notes

An original study of the history of the symphony in Vienna during Beethoven's lifetime, this 2006 book explores the context in which the composer worked. Based on an extensive study of the wider symphonic repertoire of the period and of the characteristics of musical life that shaped the changing fortunes of the genre, from manuscript and printed dissemination to concert life, David Wyn Jones provides a multi-faceted account of the development of the symphony in one of the most crucial periods in its history. The volume offers a wide perspective on musical development in the period, and will be of interest to musicologists and cultural historians. As well as dealing with unfamiliar works by Czerny, Eberl, Krommer, Reicha, Anton Wranitzky, Paul Wranitzky and others, it charts the changing reception of the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, and offers insights into the symphonic careers of Beethoven and Schubert.

1. Setting the scene
2. Selling symphonies
3. Performing symphonies
4. A tale of two brothers: Anton and Paul Wranitzky
5. Loose ends and false beginnings
6. A rare and rarefied genre
7. Beethoven and the decline of the symphony
8. The reformulation of the symphony and Beethoven
List of sources, thematic catalogues and modern editions
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Music [AV]