The "Non-heroic" Characteristics Of Beethoven's Late Style

This dissertation discusses the "non-heroic" characteristics of late-Beethoven style by analyzing Beethoven's five piano sonatas in his late period.The first chapter makes a brief introduction of both Beethoven's elderly life and his piano sonatas during this period.Starting from demonstrating the typical "heroic" characteristic in Beethoven's music,the author discusses the twist of Beethoven's music style after the year 1812.Here,the author introduces Beethoven's three personal occurrences in the last 10 years of his life,including love affairs,custody disputes,and diseases(i.e.deaf),and discusses its effects from two perspectives:the hurt from his daily life and inner-psychological changes towards life.The last three piano sonatas demonstrate not only upper major thirds in tonality but also progressive relation with each other in theme,context,and texture.In the next three chapters,the author discusses the three different aspects of "non-heroic"characteristics.The first aspect is about introspection and lyricism.Introspection is a very important characteristic because in his late period,Beethoven began to back to the inner-state mentally,and deaf made him fail to connect with the sound outside.Besides,the unique Adagio movement becomes a big characteristic of late Beethoven works.Moreover,the author also put emphasis on vocal-like melody in the sonatas,such as aria and recitative theme,and sobbing tone,which is Beethoven's inner dialogue:he is no longer a hero,but a normal individual who are facing death.The second aspect is about philosophical thinking,which is examined through the analysis of third relation,polyphony,and variation.The return of the use of polyphony,such as Fugato and Fugue Movement,demonstrates Beethoven's look-back of aristocratic society.The penetration of polyphony and variation transcends the simple composing techniques to an element of dramatization for the purpose of structure formation and music movement.Whenever using this method,Beethoven makes the meaning and function different each time,with the mixture of the achievement from ancestors and the actual music situation.It demonstrates Beethoven 's philosophical thinking in his late period.The last aspect is about religion and transcendence.Through analyzing tone-range,vibrato,divinity,starry imagery,and triumph of soul,the author distills the religious and transcendental characteristics of late Beethoven's music style.Through music,Beethoven tries to discuss the essence of the universe and humanity,deliver conversations to God,and go to the paradise.With the reference of aesthetics and philosophy,the author demonstrates the changes of the music style,from "man conquers everything" in his earlier period to "unity of heaven and man" in his late period.In the final part,the author tries to conclude the content of "non-heroic" characteristics of late-Beethoven style.Through the deep analysis of the four piano sonatas,the author wants to generalize their style to the entire late Beethoven works,and makes the conclusion that the four piano sonatas are the typical examples of late-Beethoven style.