This activity has been cancelled.
Description: While the sung “Ode to Joy” final movement of the 9th Symphony remains one of Beethoven’s most popular pieces, his towering position in music history rests primarily on his solo, chamber and large-scale instrumental compositions. His extensive catalogue of vocal works has often been considered secondary or less effective, and even in his own time, one of his would-be opera librettists found that the composer’s evolving musical style “seemed to be in conflict with the treatment of the singing voice.” The reality, however, is that vocal music occupied Beethoven’s attention over almost the entire course of his working life and resulted in some of his most intimate and dramatically expressive works. This five-week course surveys all aspects of Beethoven’s vocal music, focusing on some of the most important works and their place in his creative development.
