Gesamtwerk

[lysander]

Is there such a thing with regard to the known musical works of Beethoven?

We have the Great man's symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, contertos and solitary opera but are they linked together by any overarching philisophical or musical motif ?.
Clearly Beethoven wrote in more than one form simultaneously but did he intend this to have a grand artistic purpose or was he really ploughing in different fields.

Is the latter what is meant by his artistic development taking each form as far artistically as far as he could or did he have in mind a grander more sublime purpose and not only in terms of what he thought of as the progress of man to Joy, Freedom and Happiness?

Is there in fact one Beethoven or many Beethoven according to the musical form he chose and not just in a sense of stamping his extraordinary personallity on each such form?

[Rod]

I'd be most surprised if Beethoven has a 'grand plan'. I think he simply applied his trade where he felt he had the ability, which in Beethoven's case covers quite a lot!


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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin