Rethinking Beethoven and the Enlightenment

Sheds new light on Beethoven, politics, and religion, with far-reaching consequences for how we understand the composer's role in music history.

In the history of Western music, no figure has been as closely tied to the Enlightenment as Beethoven. But what if we have got this narrative all wrong? Through a careful historical re-evaluation, this book questions the portrait of Beethoven in the scholarly imagination and redefines his role in music history.In the history of Western music, no single figure has been as closely tied to the Enlightenment as Beethoven: he is regarded as the composer who embodies ideals such as freedom and humanism that many celebrate as the Enlightenment's legacy. This view, however, rests on a very narrow conception of the Enlightenment that aggressively stresses secularism and political liberalism. More recent historical research has shown that the Enlightenment's outlook on political and religious issues was more diverse and nuanced than traditional accounts have depicted it. The essays in this volume consider how new ways of thinking about the Enlightenment can alter the way we understand Beethoven and his music. By rethinking Beethoven and the Enlightenment, this book questions the Beethoven we know in both the popular and scholarly imagination and redefines the role the composer plays in the history of Western music.