Beethoven [Anguish and Triumph]

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Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph Book Detail

Hardcover: 1104 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (August 5, 2014)
Language: English

ISBN-10: 061805474X
ISBN-13: 978-0618054749
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches

Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph Book Review

This is a rich and nuanced biography of Ludwig van Beethoven warts and all. The book does not romanticize him; it does not take a critical orientation. It is an evenhanded consideration of a complex, extraordinarily talented, difficult person. And it highlights his musical output making the book very compelling.

This is, on the one hand, a cradle to grave biography, beginning with his family’s background and his early life (I had always thought it settled that his birth was on December 16, 1770 but not so certain according to the author). The book explores his childhood as a prodigy, pushed by his father to generate income. His father championed him as a new Mozart (indeed, the young Beethoven met Mozart once, to no great advantage).

The book also traces his musical output, from childhood efforts to his mature works–the final string quartets, Symphony # 9, Missa Solemnis, and the like. One of the stronger features of the book is the author’s detailed discussion of selected works, in terms of their “musicality.” Jan Swafford, the author, teaches music history, theory, and composition–so that he has the requisite background for making sense of Beethoven’s music. I cannot read music, so that his inclusion of the music itself is beyond me but his description of the music informs well enough.

The book also considers the arc of Beethoven’s life his battles with others, his friends, his volatile temperament, his relationship as guardian of his nephew, his (ill-fated) loves, his challenging economic situation over time, his scheming to enhance his income (sometimes offering several publishing companies the same piece of music!), his progressive deafness (a tragedy for a composer and a pianist) and so on. Get online Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph today.