And Once Again the Invisible Battle… Review of the book by A.I. Demchenko “Appassionata”

Abstract

Alexander I. Demchenko is well
known to the musicological community
and art lovers as the author of numerous
books on various aspects of artistic creativity.
His new monograph (Appassionata, Essays
on Beethoven’s Music, Commemorating
the 250th Anniversary of his Birth. Monograph.
Moscow, 2021. 164 p.), addressed both
to specialists and a broad circle
of connoisseurs of the art of music,
is focused entirely on analysis
of the content-semantic essence
of the artistic heritage of the great composer,
to which all the cited facts of his life
and consideration of the means of musical
expression are subordinated. The core
of the presentation is embodied
in the works of Beethoven the basic essence
of human existence (life activities, lyrical
feelings, repose) and what determines
the leading constants of Beethoven's
attitude to the world (heroic moods,
drama, epos).