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Tasting Notes
Aug. 16th, 2020 04:25 pmBook Review: The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven, by Antony Hopkins
I'm fairly sure this is a re-read, but I must have been a teenager when I borrowed it from the library. Some years ago I found a cheap secondhand copy on Amazon. Prompted partly by Beethoveniana and feeling that I should stick to my habit of reading something musical during the Proms season, I decided it was time.
They say that the inclusion of a mathematical equation in a popular science book halves its expected readership. Well, I have the feeling that the incorporation of many musical score excerpts must have at least a similar effect; more or less everyone gets some basic mathematical education, but I'm not sure what proportion of the population can read music. However, if you can, then this is a book worth reading. Hopkins doesn't take himself too seriously, and whilst treating the subject matter with due deference, he doesn't stick to academic language, preferring a more popular description with only the essential musical terms. It's a reminder of how much I take Beethoven for granted, I'm not sure I listen to his works all that often, but I always come away feeling that I should listen to them more. Hopkins is careful to give equal prominence to all the symphonies, with only the substantially longer ninth getting a longer chapter. This book is about the music, not the man; there are a few brief interludes that go into some of his life events, but it's not a biography.
You might think this is a book that wouldn't date (written in 1981), but there is an amusing section early in the chapter on the ninth symphony: "If you have a recording of the work try the experiment of turning the volume right off until bar 17 is reached; you should be able to see the actual moment as a black band on the disc" (my italics).
I'm fairly sure this is a re-read, but I must have been a teenager when I borrowed it from the library. Some years ago I found a cheap secondhand copy on Amazon. Prompted partly by Beethoveniana and feeling that I should stick to my habit of reading something musical during the Proms season, I decided it was time.
They say that the inclusion of a mathematical equation in a popular science book halves its expected readership. Well, I have the feeling that the incorporation of many musical score excerpts must have at least a similar effect; more or less everyone gets some basic mathematical education, but I'm not sure what proportion of the population can read music. However, if you can, then this is a book worth reading. Hopkins doesn't take himself too seriously, and whilst treating the subject matter with due deference, he doesn't stick to academic language, preferring a more popular description with only the essential musical terms. It's a reminder of how much I take Beethoven for granted, I'm not sure I listen to his works all that often, but I always come away feeling that I should listen to them more. Hopkins is careful to give equal prominence to all the symphonies, with only the substantially longer ninth getting a longer chapter. This book is about the music, not the man; there are a few brief interludes that go into some of his life events, but it's not a biography.
You might think this is a book that wouldn't date (written in 1981), but there is an amusing section early in the chapter on the ninth symphony: "If you have a recording of the work try the experiment of turning the volume right off until bar 17 is reached; you should be able to see the actual moment as a black band on the disc" (my italics).