An Amateur's Hypothesis for Listening to Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas: A Listener's Guide

By Henry L Ohlef

OF COURSE, ANY BEETHOVEN MUSIC lover needs no prompting for listening to the Moonlight sonata or the Pathetique or the Waldstein or the Appassionata. I could make a case that many Beethoven sonatas are neglected even by musicians as Beethoven's private thoughts, not for consumption. This would make a reasonable case for prompting the listener to reconsider these somewhat neglected treasures. However, this is not why I wrote this book. To understand Beethoven's mind, we must acknowledge some historical facts about Beethoven that I believe are underreported. We have heard about Beethoven's temper, about his hearing loss, about his childhood beatings, about Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament, about locking himself in the room of a client because his client's guest was French and Napoleon was French, and about his pounding many pianos into broken string submission. However, did you know that Beethoven had a belly laugh that went down to his toes? That his invention of a "scherzo" was as a musical joke? That Beethoven was also a happy man, a man opinionated but well versed in the art of conversation with Vienna's aristocratic society? AN AMATEUR'S HYPOTHESIS provides a functional guide to the sonatas of Beethoven and discusses his piano concertos so that more listeners can enjoy these foundations of music. A credo of this guide is that careful listening leads to deep pleasures. More importantly, an attempt is made to engage Beethoven's mind through his music. There are more happy movements than sad. The humor, sometimes raucous, is everywhere. Does this not speak to a happy man with a sense of humor? We will witness his experiments and his struggle to tame his material. We will witness his generosity toward his friends who admittedly are generous with him. We will witness his insecurity about his hearing and how he overcame his fears. We will witness the spiritual completeness of his last years. Yes, we will witness the moral stubbornness of a decent man.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1542598834
• ISBN13: 9781542598835
• Release Date: February 2017
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"