{"product_id":"ludwig-van-beethoven-a-very-short-introduction-9780190051730","title":"Ludwig Van Beethoven: A Very Short Introduction","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eProposes a new way of listening to Beethoven by understanding his music as an expression of his entire self, not just the iconic scowl\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDespite the ups and downs of his personal life and professional career - even in the face of deafness - Beethoven remained remarkably consistent in his most basic convictions about his art. This inner consistency, writes the music historian Mark Evan Bonds, provides the key to understanding the\u003cbr\u003ecomposer's life and works. Beethoven approached music as he approached life, weighing whatever occupied him from a variety of perspectives: a melodic idea, a musical genre, a word or phrase, a friend, a lover, a patron, money, politics, religion. His ability to unlock so many possibilities from each\u003cbr\u003ehelps explain the emotional breadth and richness of his output as a whole, from the heaven-storming Ninth Symphony to the eccentric Eighth, and from the arcane \u003cem\u003eGreat Fugue\u003c\/em\u003e to the crowd-pleasing \u003cem\u003eWellington's Victory\u003c\/em\u003e. Beethoven's works, Bonds argues, are a series of variations on his life. The iconic\u003cbr\u003escowl so familiar from later images of the composer is but one of many attitudes he could assume and project through his music. The supposedly characteristic furrowed brow and frown, moreover, came only after his time. Discarding tired myths about the composer, Bonds proposes a new way of listening\u003cbr\u003eto Beethoven by hearing his music as an expression of his entire self, not just his scowling self.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/12\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780190051730\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 168","brand":"Mark Evan Bonds","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41968375136437,"sku":"9780190051730","price":11.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_c6397a82-9871-4a88-8f89-9936b722126d.jpg?v=1647957423","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/ludwig-van-beethoven-a-very-short-introduction-9780190051730","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}