Beethoven
The Man Revealed - revised & updated edition
Published on 1. December 2012
300 pages
978-1-908739-88-9 (ISBN)
Description
You know the music... but do you know the man? Ludwig van Beethoven’s life - its dramas, conflicts, loves and losses, his deafness coupled with continuous health problems, his epic struggle with his sister-in-law for sole custody of her son, his nephew - is played out in his music. Now John Suchet has portrayed the real man behind the music in this compelling biography of a musical genius. He reveals a difficult and complex character, struggling to continue his profession as musician despite increasing deafness, alienating friends with unprovoked outbursts of anger one moment, overwhelming them with excessive kindness and generosity the next, living in a city in almost constant disarray because of war with France. This is not the god-like immortal portrayed in statues and paintings in heroic pose garlanded with laurel leaves. Beethoven may have been one of the greatest artists who ever lived, but he was still a man who had to live among fellow mortals, eat and drink, fall in love, pay his rent. This is the real Beethoven, and Suchet brings him effortlessly to life.
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10/2012
Elliott & Thompson Limited
€50.95
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Content
1. The Spaniard: In which a momentous life begins 2. The Right Teacher: This boy could become 'a second Mozart' 3. Meeting Mozart: Watch out for that boy 4. Word Spreads: Young Beethoven as kitchen scullion 5. Impressing The Viennese: But Haydn feels the wrath of an angry young man 6. My Poor Hearing Haunts Me: But there is 'a dear charming girl who loves me' 7. Only My Art Held Me Back: In which Beethoven considers suicide 8. Egyptian Hieroglyphics: Napoleon is no more than 'a common tyrant' 9. O, Beloved J!: Musical failure, but will Beethoven succeed in love? 10. A Deeply Immoral Woman: Beethoven holds the most important concert of his life, and is offered a job 11. Under Cannon Fire: In which Beethoven once again tries his luck at love 12. Immortal Beloved: 'My angel, my all, my very self ' 13. An Utterly Untamed Personality: Beethoven turns again to his 'poor shipwrecked opera' 14. Into The Witness Box: How the single letter 'o' ruined Beethoven's life 15. A Musical Gift: How Rossini found Beethoven 'disorderly and dirty' 16. 'I Want To Be A Soldier': In which Beethoven gets drunk with friends 17. Two Pistols And Gunpowder: An invitation to get away from it all 18. Frightening The Oxen: 'The greatest composer of the century, and you treated him like a servant!' 19. Terminally Ill: 'His face was damp, he spat blood' 20. The Last Master: 'He was an artist, but a man as well'
