Beethoven, biographie critique

His second book on music after the 1906 César Franck, d’Indy’s Beethoven is subtitled “A Critical Biography”, like all the volumes published in the series “Les Musiciens célèbres” launched by the publisher Henri Laurens in 1906. Commissioned as early as 1905, it was published only in 1911. Its modest dimensions (148 pages) match the usual format of the series and were congenial to d’Indy, who often complained of the heaviness of works of German musicology.

After César Franck, of whom he was one of the closest disciples, d’Indy venerated Beethoven more than anyone. As a conductor he performed the symphonies, and in his composition course at the Schola cantorum he analysed the entire oeuvre. For d’Indy, Beethoven even more than Franck represented an essential landmark in the history of music.

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digitized editions
genreBiography
editorHenri Laurens
place of publicationParis
years of publication1911
pages148
languagesfrançais
translations
compositeur