Beethoven

About this book

This "monumental" portrait of the man, his music, and the world in which he lived is "a truly remarkable biography" ( The Christian Science Monitor). Jan Swafford's biographies of Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, more than a decade in the making, peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music. Swafford mines sources never before used in English-language biographies to reanimate the revolutionary ferment of Enlightenment-era Bonn, where Beethoven grew up and imbibed the ideas that would shape all of his future work. Swafford then tracks his subject to Vienna, capital of European music, where Beethoven built his career in the face of critical incomprehension, crippling ill health, romantic rejection, and "fate's hammer," his ever-encroaching deafness. Throughout, Swafford offers insightful readings of Beethoven's key works. "Swafford's writing on Beethoven's music is perceptive and illuminating. But just as impressive is his sympathetic portrait of Beethoven the man. [The book] does not diminish any of the composer's flaws. Instead, it suggests that these flaws were inconsequential compared with the severity of the composer's anguish and the achievement of his music." — The Washington Post "Comprehensive, detailed, and highly readable . . . an ente

Appears in these reading paths

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Best Books to Read, in Order

Intermediate13books148 hrs4 stages

C

@craftsherpa♥ 0

Related reading guides

• Best Flute Books for Beginners, in Reading Order
• Best Books on Mixing and Mastering, in Reading Order
• Best Beatles Books to Read, in Order
• Best Books on Classical Composers, in Reading Order