Full Description
This authoritative biography of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a landmark in its meticulous research and use of source material. For the American author Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817-97), it represented a lifelong labour of love, yet it remained unfinished at his death. His friend Hermann Deiters (1833-1907) edited and translated Thayer's work into German, publishing three volumes which covered Beethoven's life to 1816. Since Deiters also died before the biography could be completed, musicologist Hugo Riemann (1849-1919) was called upon to conclude the work. The final German volumes appeared in 1907 and 1908. It was the American critic Henry Edward Krehbiel (1854-1923) who prepared the present work, the first and considerably revised English version, published in three volumes in 1921. Volume 3 covers Beethoven's final years, his ninth symphony and late quartets.
Contents
1. The year 1819; 2. End of litigation; 3. The year 1822; 4. The year 1823; 5. The year 1824; 6. Incidents and labors of the year 1824; 7. The year 1825; 8. A year of sickness and sorrow; 9. Karl van Beethoven; 10. The last days at Gneixendorf; General index; Index to compositions.
