Full Description
The original intention was that this book should be entirely biographical. If it be true, however, that out main interest is (or ought to be) in what a composer did rather than in what he was, the truth applies especially to Beethoven, and above all at the present time. The scheme of the book has therefore been modified so as to include a survey of his work. An attempt to make such survey cover the whole of Beethoven's output would result in little more than a catalogue, with annotations to brief as to convey hardly anything of the essential quality of the music. It seemed, therefore, that the limited space would be best used, and the needs of the general reader more fully met, by a much less rigid and comprehensive method. My aim has been to indicate some, at least, of the more important characteristics of Beethoven's works, and to show their influence on his successors.
Contents
PART I 1. Birth 2. Neefe, Friend and Teacher 3. Visit to Vienna 4. Beethoven as Head of the Household 5. Early Struggles in Vienna 6. Progress in Composition 7. Successful Tours 8. The Op. 18 Quartets 9. Letter to the "Immortal Beloved" 10. Operatic Projects 11. Death of Haydn 12. Folksong Arrangements for Thomson 13. Dispute with Brother Johann 14. "The Mount of Olives" produced in England 15. More Litigation with Carl's Widow 16. Appointment of Johann as Business Agent 17. The Philharmonic Society 18. Beethoven and England 19. Carl Attempts Suicide 20. Sick Room Visitors PART II Beethoven's Personality PART III Beethoven the Composer INDEX
