Overview

Beethoven's String Quartet in C-sharp minor Op. 131 (1826) is not only firmly a part of the scholarly canon, the performing canon, and the pedagogical canon, but also makes its presence felt in popular culture. Yet in recent times, the terms in which the C-sharp minor quartet is discussed and presented tend to undermine the multivalent nature of the work. Although it is held up as a masterpiece, Op. 131 has often been understood in monochrome terms as a work portraying tragedy, struggle, and loss. In Beethoven's String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 13, author Nancy November takes the modern-day listener well beyond these categories of adversity or deficit. The book goes back to early reception documents, including Beethoven's own writings about the work, to help the listener reinterpret and re-hear it. This book reveals the diverse musical ideas present in Op. 131 and places the work in the context of an emerging ideology of silent or 'serious' listening in Beethoven's Europe. It considers how this particular 'late' quartet could speak with special eloquence to a highly select but passionately enthusiastic audience and examines how and why the reception of Op. 131 has changed so profoundly from Beethoven's time to our own.

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9780190059200

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Nancy November breaks open the discourse on fragmentation versus unity in Op. 131 with a new interpretive approach that focuses on the special relationship between work, performer, and audience, conceiving Beethoven's composition as a large-scale fantasy that requires sustained, attentive listening. With her thought-provoking view of Op. 131, November undoubtedly offers a welcome enrichment to research on Beethoven's late work. * Christian Speck, Professor Emeritus of Musicology, University of Koblenz * Led by the perspective of listening, Nancy November offers a comprehensive study of Beethoven's string quartet in C sharp minor Op. 131, in which music lovers, students, and colleagues will find stimulating as well as new, and sometimes unexpected, information. * Christine Siegert, Head of the Beethoven-Archiv Research Centre, Beethoven-Haus Bonn *

Led by the perspective of listening, Nancy November offers a comprehensive study of Beethoven's string quartet in C sharp minor Op. 131, in which music lovers, students, and colleagues will find stimulating as well as new, and sometimes unexpected, information. -- Christine Siegert, Head of the Beethoven-Archiv Research Centre, Beethoven-Haus Bonn Nancy November breaks open the discourse on fragmentation versus unity in Op. 131 with a new interpretive approach that focuses on the special relationship between work, performer, and audience, conceiving Beethoven's composition as a large-scale fantasy that requires sustained, attentive listening. With her thought-provoking view of Op. 131, November undoubtedly offers a welcome enrichment to research on Beethoven's late work. -- Christian Speck, Professor Emeritus of Musicology, University of Koblenz

Author Information

Nancy November is an Associate Professor in musicology at the University of Auckland. Combining interdisciplinarity and cultural history, her research continues to center on chamber music of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, probing questions of historiography, canonization, and genre. She is the recipient of a Humboldt Fellowship; and two Marsden Grants from the New Zealand Royal Society.

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