Experiencing Beethoven: A Listener’s Companion

Designed for those unversed in composition or music theory, this book places Beethoven’s compositions within the context of his personal and professional life and social and cultural milieu. This volume offers readers an enhanced experience of key works by exploring Beethoven’s lyricism, heroic style, and unwaveringly idealistic musical vision.

Geoffrey Block is distinguished professor of music history at the University of Puget Sound. He is the author of Ives: ＂Concord＂ Sonata (1996), Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from ＂Show Boat＂ to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber (1997; 2nd ed. 2009), and Richard Rodgers (2003), a co-editor and contributor to Charles Ives and the Classical Tradition (1996), the editor of The Richard Rodgers Reader (2002), and the editor of two series of books on the American musical.