Beethoven after Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works

307 Pages·2004·2.37 MB·English

by  Stephen Rumph

Beethoven after Napoleon
california studies in 19th-century music
Joseph Kerman,General Editor
1. Between Romanticism and Modernism:Four Studies in the Music of the
Later Nineteenth Century,by Carl Dahlhaus,translated by Mary Whittall
2. Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation,by Walter Frisch
3. Music and Poetry:The Nineteenth Century and After,by Lawrence
Kramer
4. The Beethoven Sketchbooks:History,Reconstruction,Inventory,by
Douglas Johnson,Alan Tyson,and Robert Winter
5. Nineteenth-Century Music,by Carl Dahlhaus,translated by J.Bradford
Robinson
6. Analyzing Opera:Verdi and Wagner,edited by Carolyn Abbate and Roger
Parker
7. Music at the Turn of Century:A 19th-Century Music Reader,edited by
Joseph Kerman
8. Music as Cultural Practice,1800–1900,by Lawrence Kramer
9. Wagner Nights:An American History,by Joseph Horowitz
10. Decadent Enchantments:The Revival of Gregorian Chant at Solesmes,by
Katherine Bergeron
11. Returning Cycles:Contexts for the Interpretation of Schubert’s
Impromptus and Last Sonatas,by Charles Fisk
12. Music in Other Words:Victorian Conversations,by Ruth A.Solie
13. Mimomania:Music and Gesture in Nineteenth-Century Opera,by Mary
Ann Smart
14. Beethoven after Napoleon:Political Romanticism in the Late Works,by
Stephen Rumph
Beethoven after Napoleon
Political Romanticism in the Late Works
stephen rumph
University of California Press
berkeley los angeles london
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles,California
University of California Press,Ltd.
London,England
© 2004 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rumph,Stephen C.
Beethoven after Napoleon :political romanticism in the late works /
Stephen C.Rumph.
p. cm.— (California studies in 19th-century music ;14)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-520-23855-9 (cloth :alk.paper)
1.Beethoven,Ludwig van,1770–1827—Criticism and interpretation.
2.Romanticism in music. 3.Europe—History—1789–1900. I.Title.
II.Series.
ML410.B4S93 2004
780' .92—dc22 2003024818
Manufactured in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and totally
chlorine-free (TCF).It meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
XristmsynestaArvmai: zm dB oDkAti Dga,zmdB Dn DmoB
i i
Xristaß: f dB nMn zm Dn sarkA,Dn pAstei zm tmtoM yCoM toM
i
ueoMtoM dgapasantaß me kaB paradantoß Caytbn CpBr DmoM.
Gal.2:19–20

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
introduction 1
1. a kingdom not of this world 9
2. the heroic sublime 35
3. promethean history 58
4. 1809 92
5. contrapunctus i: prelude and fugue 109
6. contrapunctus ii: double fugue 133
7. androgynous utopias 156
8. vox populi, vox dei 195
9. a modernist epilogue 222
Notes 247
Works Cited 267
Index 279

Acknowledgments
The scholar who wanders beyond his own field must,like Blanche DuBois,
depend upon the kindness of strangers. Conversations with Martin Jay,
Robert Holub,James Sheehan,and Michael P.Steinberg eased the passage
into German history and literature.Thomas Laqueur and the fellows of the
Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities at the University of
California,Berkeley,also lent valuable interdisciplinary perspectives.Mary
Francis provided judicious advice on revisions,guiding the book effortlessly
through the editorial process.I would like to thank these scholars for shar-
ing their expertise, while absolving them from any shortcomings in my
own understanding.
This book has benefited from the example and insights of countless mu-
sicologists, among whom Daniel Heartz, James Hepokoski, Anthony
Newcomb,Susan McClary,and Peter Mercer-Taylor stand out.I owe special
thanks to Richard Taruskin,who read several drafts and provided unflagging
support from the beginning.Professor Taruskin’s own research first aroused
my interest in music and politics and has continued to serve as a scholarly
ideal.Without his kind encouragement I surely would not have completed
this book.
Finally, I gladly acknowledge an enormous debt to Joseph Kerman, a
wonderful advisor,mentor,and friend.This study,like all Beethoven schol-
arship today, basks in the afterglow of his magisterial criticism. If I have
profited even a little from his acute ear and nonpareil eloquence,I will have
done very well indeed.
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