Die unsterblich geliecte Rezeption

by Thomas Sipe

Wayne M. Senner, Robin Wallace, and William Meredith, editors. The Critical Reception of Beethoven's Compositions by His German Contemporaries. Volume I: translated by Wayne M. Senner. Volume II: translated by Robin Wallace. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999–2001. xviii, 260pp.; xviii, 289pp.

Beate Angelika Kraus. Beethoven-Rezeption in Frankreich: Von ihren Anfängen bis zum Untergang des Second Empire. Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, 2001. 368pp.

T hese two recent offerings dealing with the reception of Beethoven's music suggest a philosophical reappraisal of the critical application of reception studies more generally. This is a review that will make few judgments, but ask many questions. There will undoubtedly be other reviews that confront various particularities of these works, their minor failings, their occasional effulgences. I want to address their larger implications for the way we think about and study Beethoven's music.