In the history of Western music, no single figure has been as closely tied to the Enlightenment as Beethoven: he is regarded as the composer who embodies ideals such as freedom and humanism that many celebrate as the Enlightenment's legacy. This view, however, rests on a very narrow conception of the Enlightenment that aggressively stresses secularism and political liberalism. More recent historical research has shown that the Enlightenment's outlook on political and religious issues was more diverse and nuanced than traditional accounts have depicted it. The essays in this volume consider how new ways of thinking about the Enlightenment can alter the way we understand Beethoven and his music. By rethinking Beethoven and the Enlightenment, this book questions the Beethoven we know in both the popular and scholarly imagination and redefines the role the composer plays in the history of Western music.
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Sheds new light on Beethoven, politics, and religion, with far-reaching consequences for how we understand the composer's role in music history.
Introduction Nicholas Chong and Daniel K. L. Chua; Part I. Narratives:
Rethinking Beethoven's Enlightenment:
1. Catholic enlightenment in the age of
Beethoven: Bonn, Vienna, and Habsburg reform Shaun Blanchard;
2.
Desecularizing Beethoven Daniel K. L. Chua;
3. Anton Schindler and the
origins of the 'Enlightened' Beethoven Nicholas Chong;
4. The religious
dimension of Beethoven reception Helmut Loos; Part II. Beethoven in Bonn:
5.
Raised to be a courtier Julia Ronge;
6. The enlightened practice of sacred
music in Bonn and the role of Andrea Luchesi Anna Sanda;
7. Bonn Aufklärer
Nikolaus Simrock and Beethoven Joanna Cobb Biermann;
8. Beethoven's 1790
funeral cantata for Joseph II and enlightenment inspirations Bruce C.
MacIntyre;
9. The codependent polarity between light and darkness:
Beethoven's Bildung in the midst of censorship Peter Höyng; Part III.
Beethoven in Vienna:
10. Beethoven on the bookshelf: print literature,
religion, and the Gellert Lieder Desmond Sheehan;
11. The stile antico and
musical historicisms in Beethoven's Vienna, 17901825 Jen-yen Chen;
12.
Beethoven, Bohemia, and catholic enlightenment Axel Körner;
13. Friendship,
death, and transfiguration in the context of the late enlightenment:
Beethoven's Elegischer Gesang, op. 118 Birgit Lodes.
Nicholas Chong is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He is the author of The Catholic Beethoven (2024). Daniel K L. Chua is Chair Professor of Music at Hong Kong University. He is the author of five monographs including The 'Galitzin' Quartets of Beethoven (1995), and Beethoven and Freedom (2017).
