““ . . . recommended warmly to theorists and others interested in music, semiotics, and aesthetics.” —Choice Radically departing from nineteenth-century Formalist aesthetics, the author argues that expressive meaning is not extramusical but fundamental to the reconstruction of compositional practice and stylistic understanding, even for the “absolute” works of Beethoven. Musical Meaning in Beethoven offers a fresh approach to the problem of expressive meaning in music.”

“Radically departing from 19th-century Formalist aesthetics, Hatten argues that expressive meaning is not extra musical but fundamental to the reconstruction of compositional practice and stylistic understanding, even for the “absolute” works of Beethoven. "Hatten's interpretations are at times surprisingly poetic in their expression. . . . His work yields novel insights. . . ." —The Semiotic Review of Books “ . . . recommended warmly to theorists and others interested in music, semiotics, and aesthetics.” —Choice”

“This remarkable book should be seized upon by everyone looking to brush up their Ludwig. . . . Written so well, and with so little resort to classical music jargon, that it can be read in short amusing stretchesor long, engrossing sections. Read a few pages and you, too, can be humming him now.”
 — huffingtonpost.com