Discoveries: Beethoven

by Philippe Autexier

To be a musician and to be deaf: that alone would have made Beethoven a tragic hero. But his heroic stature goes beyond the pathos of his condition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810928329
• ISBN13: 9780810928329
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 143 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

excellent

This is a great book about a great man, Ludwig van Beethoven. Each page has many fine photographs; most in color. It is a very well-written book which will not disappoint. In addition, the quality and feel of the paper is tops. It is nice to have color portraits of people such as Beethoven's grandfather and other members of his family, as well as Antonio Salieri, Haydn, Kreutzer, Clementi, and many of his benefactors and other personal friends, not to mention street scenes, scenes of Beethoven playing the piano as a mesmerized audience looks on, scenes of Fidelio, etc. No one who buys this book can be bored by it or have buyer's remorse. The reader is transported back to the the late 18th and early 19th century. One thing I liked was finding out what Beethoven was doing at the precise time he wrote a certain work. In the book, Ferdinand Ries (a friend and composer) points out that Beethoven had been humming out loud during a walk in the woods. When he returned, he put to paper the 3rd movement of the famous Appassionata sonata. This book gets an A plus.