Marking the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth, this volume presents twenty-one completely new essays on aspects of Beethoven's personal life, his composing process, his manuscripts, and his greatest works.Beethoven's music stands as a universal symbol of personal and artistic achievement. As we reach and then surpass the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth, Jeremy Yudkin has commissioned a collection of new essays from some of the most insightful writers on Beethoven's accomplishments and brought them together in this remarkable volume. Filled with careful explanations, this book gives us completely new insights into music known and loved by people around the world. Ordinary music lovers as well as scholars will find countless new discoveries about Beethoven and his music. Listeners will hear his compositions afresh, and scholars will find new results of research and analysis and new avenues for discovery. Topics include Beethoven's cultural milieu, his personal life, his friends, his publishers, his instruments, his working methods, his own handwritten scores, and, of course, his music. Many works are carefully discussed and explained in ways that reveal fascinating and previously unknown aspects of compositions that we thought we knew well. A landmark publication for all who admire some of the greatest music of our civilization.

Preface - Jeremy YudkinIntroduction - Jeremy YudkinPART ONE: A Creative LifeOf Deserters and Orphans: Beethoven's Early Exposure to the Opéras-comiques of Monsigny - Steven Moore Whiting"A really excellent and capable man": Beethoven and Johann Traeg - David Wyn JonesA Four-Leaf Clover: A Newly Discovered Cello, the Premiere of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven's Circle of Friends in Bonn, and a Corrected Edition of the Song Ruf vom Berge, WoO 147 - Michael Ladenburger"Where Thought Touches the Blood": Rhythmic Disturbance as Physical Realism in Beethoven's Creative Process - Bruce AdolpheThe Sanctification of Beethoven in 1828 - Christopher ReynoldsPART TWO: Prometheus/"Eroica"The Prometheus Theme and Beethoven's Shift from Avoidance to Embrace of Possibilities - Alan GosmanBeethoven at Heiligenstadt in 1802: Deconstruction, Integration, and Creativity - William Kinderman'Mit Verstärkung des Orchesters': The Orchestra Personnel at the First Public Performance of Beethoven's Eroica - Theodore AlbrechtPART THREE: Masses"Aber lieber Beethoven, was haben Sie denn wieder da gemacht?": Observations on the Performing Parts for the Premiere of Beethoven's Mass in C, Op. 86? - Jeremiah McGrannHeart to Heart: Beethoven, Archduke Rudolph, and the Missa Solemnis - Mark Evan BondsGod and the Voice of Beethoven - Scott BurnhamPART FOUR: Quartets'So Here I Am, in the Middle Way': The Autograph of the "Harp" Quartet and the Expressive Domain of Beethoven's Second Maturity - M. Lucy TurnerMeaningful Details: Expressive Markings in Beethoven Manuscripts, with a Focus on Opus 127 - Nicholas KitchenThe Autograph Score of the Slow Movement of Beethoven's Last Quartet, Op. 135 - Barry CooperEarly German-Language Reviews of Beethoven's Late String Quartets - Robin WallacePART FIVE: ExplorationsThree Movements or Four? The Scherzo Movements in Beethoven's Early Sonatas - Erica BuurmanUtopia and Dystopia Revisited: Contrasted Domains in Beethoven's Middle-Period F-Major and F-minor Works - Barbara BarrySchooling the Quintjäger - David LevyCue-Staff Annotations in Beethoven's Piano Works: Reflections and Examples from the Autograph of the Piano Sonata, Op. 101 - Federica Rovelli'Another Little Buck out of Its Stable' - Richard KramerBeethoven's Cavatina, Haydn's Seasons, and the Thickness of Inscription - Elaine Sisman