Music: Classical Music in Focus: Late Beethoven

Course overview

Beethoven is one of Western classical music’s titans, looming over whole swathes of musical activity even up to the present day.

The set of pieces he produced in the last fifteen years of his life in particular have cast long shadows over subsequent generations of composers: complex, weird, but often startlingly beautiful, the late works are still some of the most challenging pieces for performers to execute and for audiences to hear even two centuries after they were written.

On this course we will explore this repertoire from a non-musician’s perspective, diving into the different layers of understanding these pieces, from Beethoven’s own biography to the social and cultural contexts of Vienna around the early 1800s.

We will also see the ways in which the world began to make sense of these pieces, often ignoring them until long after Beethoven’s death.

The multifarious social, cultural, and political afterlives of these pieces form some of the key reasons that Beethoven remains so central to our musical thinking even in the present day.

Who is this course for?

This is an adult education course open to everyone. No previous experience is required.

The sessions are open and inclusive, with content designed to foster critical thinking, lively discussion, and enjoyment of a rich and diverse genre of musical performance.

Reading material or special equipment needed (if any)

None required.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about the content of this course please contact the tutor, Dr Bruno Bower, at b.bower@imperial.ac.uk 

If you have any questions about enrolment please contact the Imperial after:hours Administrator, Christian Jacobi, at c.jacobi@imperial.ac.uk