The Symphonies of Beethoven cover art

The Symphonies of Beethoven

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Symphonies of Beethoven

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Robert Greenberg
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £38.99

Buy Now for £38.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Ludwig van Beethoven is justifiably acclaimed as one of the most revered composers in the history of Western music-a genius once characterized as a "Titan, wrestling with the gods." There is no better way for you to understand the full impact of that description than to not only listen to all nine of his magnificent symphonies, but to do so with a full understanding of what this great composer was saying and the circumstances that drove him up to and beyond what had once been considered the limits of musical expression.

The 32 lectures that make up this detailed introduction to Beethoven explores each of his symphonies in depth, explaining the gifts of musical communication that made this composer unique. Even without any previous musical training, you'll be able to grasp the absolute directness that made his work so accessible, the sheer emotional power that could never be ignored, and the ways in which his ideas were revolutionary on every level. Beginning with an introduction to Beethoven the man and the musical and societal forces that shaped his development, you'll explore his breathtaking innovations: harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, formal, dramatic, self-expressive, and emotional. And you'll come to understand how and why this man was able to lead music into a totally new era as he dispensed with the restraint of 18th-century Classicism to usher in the era of romantic self-expression - even as his own ability to even hear what he was creating was progressively and tragically vanishing.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1996 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1996 The Great Courses
Music Piano Musician
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion cover art
Great Music of the 20th Century cover art
Great Piano Works Explained cover art
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World cover art
The Iliad of Homer cover art
No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life cover art
The History of Classical Music cover art
The Life and Works of Beethoven cover art
The Rest Is Noise cover art
The Life and Works of Frédéric Chopin cover art
Life & Works - Johannes Brahms cover art
What the F cover art
The Making of Music cover art
The History of English Poetry cover art
The Music Lesson cover art
A Most Elegant Equation cover art

What listeners say about The Symphonies of Beethoven

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    41
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

For serious students of music

As usual great performance from Robert Greenberg but this is serious academic stuff, not really for amateurs like me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, as expected.

Prof. Greenberg's enthusiasm and detailed explanations was deeply inspiring. He brought Beethoven alive and made his struggle and his mission for the world completely clear to me. Masterful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterful Course

A masterful course on the symphonic works of perhaps the greatest master of the form. Very insightful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome journey into Beethoven’s symphonies

Robert Greenberg leads us into a comprehensive exercise of analysis and appreciation of Beethoven’s symphonies. A must for any admirer of his music.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

There is no better way to enjoy Beethoven

Loved every second of Prof. Greenberg's masterful and charismatic presentation of the life and symphonies of Beethoven.
A composer who comes to life on the page and his music is presented in the context of his life a life only Beethoven could have lived.
Thank-you Robert Greenberg and Great courses!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gotta love Professor Bob

Like his subject, professor bob is extraordinary. You will not find a more enthusiastic, energetic, witty, world-wise and above all profoundly learned guide to the world of classical (I should say "concert") music. This is my fourth 20h hour course with Professor Bob.

He goes deep into the music - deeper than some may care for, but as a mostly untrained but passionate amateur musician I learned a bunch about harmony, rhythm, metre and melody, as well as the elements of compositional forms, and of course Beethovens furious genius with them all.

Cannot recommend highly enough.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Greenberg talking to himself aloud?

But he might as well be speaking chinese for all I can understand of what he is saying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!