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The String Quartets of Beethoven cover art

The String Quartets of Beethoven

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Robert Greenberg
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Summary

In his 16 quartets for two violins, viola, and cello, Beethoven created a Mount Everest for string players and some of the most sublime, unforgettable music ever written. In this musically rich 24-lecture series, Professor Greenberg guides you in a deep encounter with these majestic works of art, offering you the rare opportunity to grasp the musical riches and spiritual greatness of the quartets in a clear and accessible way.

You'll uncover the musical underpinnings of the luminous beauty, emotional depth, and dramatic scope that make these quartets legendary; examine the inner workings of one of history's most innovative minds; learn the "ritual template" of the Classical string quartet; and probe the seminal innovations of Haydn and Mozart within the template, as they set the stage for the explosive arrival of Beethoven.

The heart of this series is a movement-by-movement exploration of the individual Beethoven quartets, revealing the arc of the composer's fierce independence and imagination as he brings to the string quartet an expressive, formal, and narrative range undreamed of by earlier musicians. You'll delve deeply into the musical innovations that underlie Beethoven's creativity in these works, including "motivic" development, originality, and contextual use of form.

Each of these lectures is a rare and life-enriching opportunity to know the scope of Beethoven's genius, his most unforgettable music, and the profound humanity and beauty that live through them.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The String Quartets of Beethoven

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Addictive and Annoying!

These podcasts are addictively interesting, I listen to them everywhere, they are such an easy way to gain a passing understanding of a whole subject. The performance of Robert Greenberg is at times annoying and occasionally excruciatingly cringeworthy, however, to the point of trivialisation of an interesting issue. Overall very good, despite the ‘Americanness’ in places.

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Amazing

Learnt so much in this journey. Highly recommended.

Robert Greenberg is highly talented at delivering these lectures and the interweaving of biographic and contextual material interlaced with each quarter - broken down and played part by part - means this complex subject is digestible for those even without music theory knowledge.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Lively introduction to the quartets

Analysis and examples with quite a lot on Beethoven's life and times thrown in. Deft explanations of theory are given where necessary.

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