A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lenz, Wilhelm von

LENZ, Wilhelm von", Russian councillor at St. Petersburg, and author of 'Beethoven et ses trois styles' (2 vols. Petersburg, 1852), in which the idea originally suggested by Fétis, that Beethoven's works may be divided into three separate epochs, has been carried out to its utmost limits. This was followed by 'Beethoven. Eine Kunststudie,' in 6 vols., i.–iii. Cassel 1855, 6; iv.–vi. Hamburg 1860. This is an entirely different work from the foregoing, and though often extravagant in expression, has a certain value from the enthusiasm of the writer and the unwearied manner in which he has collected facts of all kinds about Beethoven's works. It contains a Life, an Essay on Beethoven's style, a detailed analysis of every one of his works in order, with various Lists and Catalogues not without use to the student, though in regard to the chronology of Beethoven's works, the minute investigations of Thayer and Nottebohm have superseded many of Lenz's conclusions. He also published 'Die grossen Pianofortevirtuosen unserer Zeit' (Berlin, 1872), a collection of articles on Liszt, Chopin, Tausig, Henselt, and many other great artists, from personal knowledge, well translated in the Monthly Musical Record for 1878. [App. p.699 "Date of death, Feb. 1883."]

[ F. G. ]