Interpreting Beethoven: History, aesthetics, and critical reception

Abstract

This study traces the history of critical interpretation and reinterpretation of Beethoven's music in general, and the Eroica Symphony in particular. The method I have adopted is derived principally from the work of Hans Robert Jauss in the field of hermeneutics. I explore the shifting perspectives of the "horizons of expectations" through which the work has been received and relate them to aspects of the notated music. Historical interpretations are classified according to "interpretative mode" and "connotative category." Modes employed in the interpretation of Beethoven's music are metaphorical (early-nineteenth century), psychological (late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries), and structural (twentieth century). Metaphorical interpretations presuppose interactions between music and extramusical objects or ideas; psychological interpretations explore the psyche of the composer; structural interpretations focus on musical relationships themselves. In contrast to the interpretative modes, which have changed with time, connotative categories appear in all three modes, across time. I identify three central categories: substantive, biographic, and abstract. Substantive connotations associate musical events with objects; biographic connotations associate musical events with events in the composer's life; abstract connotations associate musical events with concepts. The reception history of the Eroica is examined in the light of these interpretative modes and connotative categories. I discuss three significant interpretations, each representing a different mode, and relate them to the music itself and the previous interpretations (the aesthetic climate) that helped to condition them. Difficulties with the most recent interpretations are discussed. I formulate my own interpretation through a new examination of the political and aesthetic climate from which the work emerged. First, I reexamine the historical genesis of the symphony, especially its indisputable relation to Napoleon Bonaparte. Then, I discuss the Beethoven's aesthetic motivation, focusing on the writings of Johann Georg Sulzer, Christian Gottfried Korner, and Friedrich Schiller. I interpret the symphony as embodying principles outlined in Schiller's treatise On Naive and Sentimental Poetry. I also relate the finale, through its connection with the myth of Prometheus, to Schiller's On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters.

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