Stereotype fantasies: Beethoven as chauvinist (Reception)

Both types of chauvinism--national and male--have been applied to Beethoven , the historical and political persona, as well as to his music. This artic le examines the assumptions of male chauvinism in relation to Beethoven's m usic. Adolf Bernhard Marx and others began implanting gender dualism into t heoretical analyses, whether for the sonata form or the chief compositional model, Beethoven. Nationalist and sexist aspects coincide with the idea th at the music itself is rooted in a type of ethical seriousness, the paradig m for which may be found in Beethoven's music. Fantasizing about the chauvi nist Beethoven has remained part of the composer's reception up to today.