Scholars have drawn attention to the significance of Beethoven's circle in biographical and critical evaluation of his music and influence on music of the nineteenth century. The particular circumstances of the Jewish population in Europe during this important period, that of the Emancipation and Haskalah, with its changes of socio-political profile, add a significant perspective to a consideration of Beethoven's Jewish contemporaries, and his relationships with them highlight both the composer's own rapport with Judaism and their contribution to nineteenth-century culture. The article deals with close colleagues such as the pianist-composer Moscheles, poet Jeitteles, and publisher Schlesinger, all of whom were instrumental in the genesis and reception of many of Beethoven' s masterworks as well as the wider circle of Hiller, Heller, Meyerbeer, Thalberg, and Sir Julius Benedict, who came into contact with Beethoven and whose influence extended into the Romantic era. Beethoven's Jewish friends and patrons are also discussed as well as the possibility that his commission to compose for Vienna's Seitenstettengasse Synagogue inspired his greatest, last quartet in C sharp minor, op. 131.
The Black Gondola, John Adams's transcription for chamber orchestra of Liszt's La Lugubre Gondola II, composed in 1989 for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota, shows how – as in the case of Wiegenlied (discussed in an earlier article, Tempo 175) – the composer has been attracted to those aspects of Liszt's late style which inter–connect with minimalism: regular, and fluid, rhythmic textures; economy of thematic material which undergoes ‘minimal’ transformation; extensive phrase repetition in a ‘sequencing’ structure; harmonic ambiguity and elusiveness. In addition, in this case, a strong programmatic element is evident in the symbolism of the original piece which is heightened considerably within Adams's transcription: an expression of the dramatic style which has influenced his recent stage works, Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer.
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