MHMUS 440 — Beethoven and the Late Style

3 credits
Fall
Edgardo Salinas

Prerequisite: MHMUS 311 . This class examines the works Beethoven produced in the last dozen or so years of his life through the lens of the concept of “late style,” understood as a genre-bending toolkit of compositional practices and a philosophical trope in critiques of modernity. We begin by discussing the concept of late style in the reception of Beethoven’s late piano sonatas and continue with his revision of Fidelio in 1814 and the overtly political works written to celebrate the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The class concludes with the Ninth Symphony, the Missa solemnis, and the late string quartets, which marked the culmination of Beethoven’s late style. Topics to be discussed through reading assignments include lateness and modernity, Classicism vs. Romanticism, deafness and disability, the work-concept, absolute music, reception history, and iconic performances of late works.