Home

Advanced Search

Copyright © 2008
Pendragon Press
P.O. Box 190
Hillsdale, NY 12529 USA
tel (518) 325-6100
fax (518) 325-6102
US/Canada orders:
toll-free (877) 656-6381

Beethoven’s “Orpheus” Concerto

The Fourth Piano Concerto in its Cultural Context

“Beethoven composed his Fourth Piano Concerto in Vienna in the years 1803-06. In that period there was an unusually keen interest in the Orpheus legend; and so it is not surprising to learn that all three movements ... were undeclaredly—or better described, secretly—based on that famous story.” So begins Owen Jander’s Beethoven’s “Orpheus” Concerto: The Fourth Piano Concerto in its Cultural Context. In this fascinating and controversial book, the author maintains—echoing the interpretation first suggested by Adolph Berhard Marx in 1859—that the three movements are based on the Classical versions of the Orpheus legend by Virgil and Ovid. Jander tells us the full story—from the opening phrase of the first movement to the last measure of the finale—of how the Orpheus legend informs every note of Beethoven’s music.

Call our toll-free order line at (877) 656-6381 or

Order this book at Amazon.com (USA) or at Amazon.ca (Canada) or at the Eurospan bookstore (overseas).