I suppose that musicology can never be described as a fashionable activity. In the what's in and what's out lists it never quite makes it to either. Sometimes though, people spend a great deal of time, studying and writing about a subject and then the next generation never sees it. I think this is a pity, so I have tried to write as briefly as I can about two musicologists, with very different views on Beethoven. I was hoping a brief summary of their two approaches might encourage people to find their dusty tomes or look them up on online.
Two very contrasting approaches to Beethoven string quartets are made by Arnold Schering (1877-1941) and Rudolf Kolisch (1896-1978) Both were first educated as violinists but their lives were in just as much contrast as their writing. Schering blatantly collaborated with the Nazis after their rise to power, and seemed to be in public, fully adhering to their doctrines. Kolisch, on the other hand,was forced to become a refugee from the Nazis, both because of his Jewish heritage and his long association with Arnold Schoenberg and the second Viennese school.
In a way Kolisch's great survey of Beethoven's works - "Tempo and Character in the work's of Beethoven" came about as a result of being short of money and a refugee in New York in the 40's. This short book, which is unbelievable in the thoroughness and intense logic of it's approach, catalogues every work of Beethoven (!) , giving Beethoven's own metronome marks when specified and then making a very educated guess at what other tempo markings would have been, based on the character and tempo description of the movement. So when you look up a movement of a string quartet for example, you get a table in the back of the book with metronome marks, and a section in the front with a character description, and a list of all other movements by Beethoven with similar traits ( it is mind-blowing!) So just as an example when you look up a Scherzo movement from opus 18 no.1, you find there are five categories of Scherzo 1. True Minuet (slowest) 2 Waltz Minuet 3 Allegro Scherzo 4. the real Allegro Scherzo ( quicker this is opus 18 no.1))5. Presto Scherzo It is astonishing that Kolisch could have studied all of these works, spotting patterns, both in character, time signature and tempo, and then classified them in this encyclopedic way. This book is almost unknown now in English speaking circles, (it is out of print) but as a starting point when studying these works, as long as it is not take too literally, it is invaluable.
With Schering and his works on Beethoven String Quartets ( in Beethoven in neuer Deutung) it is impossible to take him and his writing literally. It is as if he has mystically conjured up connections, between what Beethoven was reading at the time he was composing certain works. So for example the quartets opus 74 ( Romeo and Juliet), opus 95 ( Othello) opus 127 ( The Merry Wives of Windsor) opus 130 ( A Midsummer Nights Dream) and opus 131 ( Hamlet) are the Shakespeare quartets. He writes Shakespeare's text in German under certain themes and each quartet is transformed into a drama in music where specific scenes from the plays are depicted in different movements. It is quite a daring creative leap that Schering makes and for me, I cannot always understand these leaps. Having seen Hamlet and played opus 131 right next to each other, for me they exist in separate, distinct worlds and I cannot take the music as a literal representation of the play. Having said, you admire the immense creativity involved in coming up with these links.
Beethoven by all accounts said that Shakespeare was his idol, and that he knew his works as thoroughly as he did his own scores. Beethoven gave his friends Shakespearian nicknames, so tubby Schuppanzigh was " Milord Falstaff" and young Gerhard von Breuning was "Ariel" There is also a famous conversation where Schindler asked Beethoven for the key to two piano sonatas opus 57 and opus 31 no.2 and Beethoven replied " Just read Shakepeare's Tempest". So Schering has a jumping off point, which he uses with incredible imagination.
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