The Creative World of Beethoven (Norton Library, N605)

Stimulated by the bicentenary of Beethoven's birth, there has been a new surge of scholarly research into the life and music of this most celebrated of classic masters. Studies into the sources of his style, his methods of composition, and his influence upon contemporaries are casting new light on even the most famous works in the Beethoven canon. This book brings together a number of eminent authorities, who present new findings and fresh insights.

After the editor's introduction, devoted to an overall view of Beethoven's significance, there are essays by Joseph Kerman and Boris Schwarz concerning the composer's sketches. Alan Tyson discusses the oratorio Christus am Oelberge; Philip Downes, the Eroica Symphony; F. E. Kirby, the Pastoral Symphony; Warren Kirkendale, the Missa Solemnis; and Myron Schwager, and arrangement of the Septet. Lewis Lockwood explores the question of the unfinished piano concerto of 1815; Alfred Mann takes up Beethoven's counterpoint studies with Haydn, and Alexander Ringer discusses Beethoven and the London Pianoforte School. Other topics include "Beethoven and Romantic Irony," by Rey M. Longyear; "Beethoven's Birth Year," by Maynard Solomon; "On Beethoven's Thematic Structure," by Dénes Bartha; and Edward T. Cone examines a striking instance of Beethoven's influence on Schubert.

The late Paul Henry Lang ranks among the century's most eminent musicologists. A longtime faculty member at Columbia University, he also served as editor of the Musical Quarterly and as music critic for the New York Herald Tribune.