Overview

Beethoven wrote music for times that were changing. His musical aesthetics played an active part in the exchange of thought that shaped the revolutionary culture of his lifetime. He put aesthetic expectations to the test, and we still hear his message today. In Beethoven in the Age of Schiller, Goethe, and Kant: Music for Modern Times, Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen explores twelve themes that reflect Beethoven’s compositional development and thought. The result is a fascinating new portrait of the composer and his music, and a panorama of the world of thought, norms, and values that he navigated. Here we discover insight into Beethoven’s use of literature, his aspirations for purely instrumental music, and how he transformed contemplation into aesthetic expression. We learn not only how his contemporaries misunderstood him, but also how those in the know did get his message. Was Beethoven philosophical and poetic? Are his last compositions a critique of pure music, are they transcendental? Hinrichsen argues that we must get beyond our stereotypes of Beethoven if we want to truly understand him.

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9781666975987

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""One of the most substantial recent additions to the Beethoven literature, Hinrichsen's book offers a finely judged account of the composer's evolving social position as well as an up-to-date picture of his artistic development. But the book's most signal achievement is its thoroughgoing, multifaceted, and persuasive demonstration of the relevance of Kant's critical philosophy to any understanding of both the man and his music. It is not just that the composer's position in the history of modern music is similarly pivotal to that of the philosopher's position in the history of modern thought. More importantly, Hinrichsen argues that Beethoven's worldview as captured in his music was fundamentally Kantian, centering on the notion of human autonomy and attempting to stage its reconciliation with the causal determinism of nature."" -- Karol Berger, Stanford University ""Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen’s conviction about Beethoven’s “transcendental music” as analogous to Kant’s “transcendental philosophy” is provocative and far-reaching, as is his persuasive view about the “philosophical stance of humor” embodied in Beethoven’s later works. As Hinrichsen rightly observes, this music holds “a good amount of Idealism” and enlightened optimism that is urgently needed in our own troubled times."" -- William Kinderman, author of Beethoven: A Political Artist in Revolutionary Times

Author Information

Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen is professor emeritus for musicology at the University of Zurich. Cynthia Klohr studied philosophy and literature in Detroit, Karlsruhe, and Heidelberg, and after earning her degrees, taught university courses in modern philosophy in both English and German.

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