The First Four Notes: Beethoven's Fifth and the Human ImaginationA TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2012 A New Yorker Best Book of the Year Los Angeles Magazine's #1 Music Book of the Year A unique and revelatory book of music history that examines in great depth what is perhaps the best-known and most-popular symphony ever written and its four-note opening, which has fascinated musicians, historians, and philosophers for the last two hundred years. Music critic Matthew Guerrieri reaches back before Beethoven’s time to examine what might have influenced him in writing his Fifth Symphony, and forward into our own time to describe the ways in which the Fifth has, in turn, asserted its influence. He uncovers possible sources for the famous opening notes in the rhythms of ancient Greek poetry and certain French Revolutionary songs and symphonies. Guerrieri confirms that, contrary to popular belief, Beethoven was not deaf when he wrote the Fifth. He traces the Fifth’s influence in China, Russia, and the United States (Emerson and Thoreau were passionate fans) and shows how the masterpiece was used by both the Allies and the Nazis in World War II. Altogether, a fascinating piece of musical detective work—a treat for music lovers of every stripe. |
Contents
Revolutions | 3 |
Fates | 46 |
Infinities | 88 |
Associations | 124 |
Secret Remedies | 151 |
Earthquakes | 190 |
Samples | 227 |
Other editions - View all
The First Four Notes: Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination Matthew Guerrieri Limited preview - 2014 |
The First Four Notes: Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination Matthew Guerrieri Limited preview - 2012 |
The First Four Notes: Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination Matthew Guerrieri No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Adorno aesthetic American became Beecham's Beecham's Pills Beethoven's Fifth Symphony Beethoven's music Beethoven's symphonies Beethovenian Berlin Boston Brook Farm Bülow C-minor Charles classical composer concert conductor critic Critique Crystal Palace culture deafness dialectic Dwight E. M. Forster E. T. A. Hoffmann Edited Ellison Engels Eroica Essays Fate fermata Fifth of Beethoven Fifth Symphony Fifth's opening Forster four notes French Friedrich George German Grove Hamann hear Hegel Hegelian Heinrich Schenker heroic Hoffmann Howards End Ibid idea intellectual Ives Ives's jazz Journal Kant Karl knocking letter listener London Marx Maynard Solomon Méhul motive movement musician Napoléon Nazi Nietzsche opera orchestra paeon performance Philharmonic philosophical phony piano play political published Quoted Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Emerson record Revolution revolutionary Richard Richard Wagner Romantic Schenker Schiller Schindler Schoenberg society Sonata song story symphony's theme Theodor Theodor W things tion trans Translated University Press Urlinie Victorian Wagner wrote York