Longyear Lecture to Explore Beethoven's Third Symphony

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 22, 2015) — Renowned composer and scholar Jan Swafford will speak about the rigorous composition of Ludwig van Beethoven's “Eroica” as part of the Rey M. Longyear Lecture Series at the University of Kentucky School of Music. Swafford's lecture will begin 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 in the Niles Gallery, located in the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Swafford's lecture is titled "Composing the 'Eroica'" and will explore Beethoven's Third Symphony, which has stood the test of time. Composed of four movements, the "Eroica" reflects Beethoven's journey to prove himself to Viennese society, from the lows of emotional turmoil and his discovery of becoming deaf to the highs of becoming assured in his music and his triumph.

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra performs Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.

The Rey M. Longyear Lecture Series is funded by a gift from Katherine Longyear. Guest lectures and colloquia are sponsored by the Division of Musicology and Ethnomusicology within the School of Music, and by FOCUS, the UK Music Graduate Students Association. The series has featured world-renowned artists, professors, and musicologists as speakers such as Leo Treitler, Richard Taruskin, Pauline Oliveros and many more..

Swafford is professor emeritus at Boston Conservatory of Music and program writer and preconcert lecturer for the Boston Symphony. He most recently presented the preconcert lectures for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Immortal Beethoven" series. His journalistic works also appear regularly in Slate magazine.

An author of biographies on Beethoven, Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms, Swafford has cemented his reputation as a credible music historian. In addition to being a respected author and scholar, his own musical compositions have been performed widely in the United States and Europe. His music has been referred to as "new romantic" in style as he navigates between tonality and atonality. 

The UK School of Music at UK College of Fine Arts has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history. 

For more information on the Longyear Lecture Series or about musicology at UK, see the division's webpage or contact Ronald Pen, director of the UK John Jacob Niles Center for American Music, by email at rapen01@uky.edu or by phone at 859-257-8183.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu