Beethoven : the man revealed / John Suchet.
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Grove Press, [2013]Copyright date: ©2012Description: xv, 389 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 080212206X (hardcover)
- 9780802122063 (hardcover)
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | Biography | Beethove L. S942 | Available | 33111007479039 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Beethoven scholar and classical radio host John Suchet has had a lifelong, ardent interest in the man and his music. Here, in his first full-length biography, Suchet illuminates the composer's difficult childhood, his struggle to maintain friendships and romances, his ungovernable temper, his obsessive efforts to control his nephew's life, and the excruciating decline of his hearing. This absorbing narrative provides a comprehensive account of a momentous life, as it takes the reader on a journey from the composer's birth in Bonn to his death in Vienna.
Chronicling the landmark events in Beethoven's career--from his competitive encounters with Mozart to the circumstances surrounding the creation of the well-known Für Elise and Moonlight Sonata--this book enhances understanding of the composer's character, inspiring a deeper appreciation for his work. Beethoven scholarship is constantly evolving, and Suchet draws on the latest research, using rare source material (some of which has never before been published in English) to paint a complete and vivid portrait of the legendary prodigy.
Includes index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The Spaniard : in which a momentous life begins -- The right teacher : this boy could become 'a second Mozart' -- Meeting Mozart : watch out for that boy -- Word spreads : young Beethoven as kitchen scullion -- Impressing the Viennese : but Haydn feels the wrath of an angry young man -- My poor hearing haunts me : but there is 'a dear charming girl who loves me' -- Only my art held me back : in which Beethoven considers suicide -- Egyptian hieroglyphics : Napoleon is no more than 'a common tyrant' -- O, beloved J! : musical failure, but will Beethoven succeed in love? -- A deeply immoral woman : Beethoven holds the most important concert of his life, and is offered a job -- Under cannon fire : in which Beethoven once again tries his luck at love -- Immortal beloved : 'my angel, my all, my very self' -- An utterly untamed personality : Beethoven turns again to his 'poor shipwrecked opera' -- Into the witness box : how the single letter 'o' ruined Beethoven's life -- A musical gift from London : how Rossini found Beethoven 'disorderly and dirty' -- 'I want to be a soldier' : in which Beethoven gets drunk with friends -- Two pistols and gunpowder : an invitation to get away from it all -- Frightening the oxen : 'The greatest composer of the century, and you treated him like a servant!' -- Terminally ill : 'His face was damp, he spat blood' -- The last master : 'He was an artist, but a man as well.'
llluminates Beethoven's difficult childhood, his struggle to find a wife, his ungovernable temper, his emotional volatility, his tendency to push away those trying to help him, and in middle age his obsessive compulsion to control his nephew's life.