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Beethoven : Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford (2014, Hardcover)
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Beethoven : Anguish and Triumph, Hardcover by Swafford, Jan, ISBN 061805474X, ISBN-13 9780618054749, Brand New, Free shipping in the US Provides a detailed overview of the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, from Enlightenment-era Bonn to the musical capital of Vienna, describing the composer's career, ill health, and romantic rejections.
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherHarperCollins
ISBN-10061805474X
ISBN-139780618054749
eBay Product ID (ePID)15038569405
Product Key Features
Book TitleBeethoven : Anguish and Triumph
Number of Pages1104 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2014
TopicHistory & Criticism, Genres & Styles / Classical, Composers & Musicians, Individual Composer & Musician
IllustratorYes
GenreMusic, Biography & Autobiography
AuthorJan Swafford
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height2.1 in
Item Weight50.5 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2014-011681
Reviews"A thorough, affectionate and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)..Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic." --Kirkus, starred review "In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford (Johannes Brahms) brings new life to Beethoven." --Publishers Weekly, STARRED review, A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice A Christian Science Monitor Top 10 Book of the Month "Swafford's craftsmanship shines...The book is two books: a biography and a series of journeys through the music, a travelogue with an excitable professor. Readers will want to have a recording playing so they can match metaphors to sounds. I found myself engaged by his imagery, sometimes delighted and surprised." -Jeremy Denk, New York Times Book Review "Compelling...Despite the wealth of historical detail, this is no dry academic tome, but a biography full of colorful descriptions of the composer and his milieu...Comprehensive, detailed, and highly readable, this is an entertaining biography that should find favor with music lovers and history buffs." - Seattle Times "Swafford creates the perfect blend of a historical person and musical genius...Monumental...A truly remarkable biography."- Christian Science Monitor "Swafford's writing on Beethoven's music is perceptive and illuminating. But just as impressive is his sympathetic portrait of Beethoven the man. Swafford's book, which should be placed alongside the excellent biographies by Lewis Lockwood and Maynard Solomon, 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." - Washington Post "Magnificent...Some of the most enjoyable segments of his book are the spirited and knowledgeable readings of Beethoven's various compositions. These passages are so passionate that they virtually propel the reader across the room to the CD collection, to play the pieces being so smartly described...A stunning tour de force, a Beethoven biography to shine for a lifetime." - Open Letters Monthly "Monumental...Engaging and entertaining...Beethoven aficionados and lovers of classical music will want this book, as will readers interested in biography and the artistic milieu of late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe."- Library Journal , starred review "A thorough, affectionate, and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)...Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic."- Kirkus , starred review "In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford ( Johannes Brahms ) brings new life to Beethoven."- Publishers Weekly , starred review, "A thorough, affectionate and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)..Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic." --Kirkus, starred review, "Swafford's craftsmanship shines...The book is two books: a biography and a series of journeys through the music, a travelogue with an excitable professor. Readers will want to have a recording playing so they can match metaphors to sounds. I found myself engaged by his imagery, sometimes delighted and surprised." -Jeremy Denk, New York Times Book Review "Compelling...Despite the wealth of historical detail, this is no dry academic tome, but a biography full of colorful descriptions of the composer and his milieu...Comprehensive, detailed, and highly readable, this is an entertaining biography that should find favor with music lovers and history buffs." - Seattle Times "Swafford creates the perfect blend of a historical person and musical genius...Monumental...A truly remarkable biography."- The Christian Science Monitor "Monumental...Engaging and entertaining...Beethoven aficionados and lovers of classical music will want this book, as will readers interested in biography and the artistic milieu of late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe."- Library Journal , starred review "A thorough, affectionate, and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)...Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic."- Kirkus , starred review "In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford ( Johannes Brahms ) brings new life to Beethoven."- Publishers Weekly , starred review, A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice A Christian Science Monitor Top 10 Book of the Month "Swafford's craftsmanship shines...The book is two books: a biography and a series of journeys through the music, a travelogue with an excitable professor. Readers will want to have a recording playing so they can match metaphors to sounds. I found myself engaged by his imagery, sometimes delighted and surprised." -Jeremy Denk, New York Times Book Review "Compelling...Despite the wealth of historical detail, this is no dry academic tome, but a biography full of colorful descriptions of the composer and his milieu...Comprehensive, detailed, and highly readable, this is an entertaining biography that should find favor with music lovers and history buffs." - Seattle Times "Swafford creates the perfect blend of a historical person and musical genius...Monumental...A truly remarkable biography."- Christian Science Monitor "Swafford's writing on Beethoven's music is perceptive and illuminating. But just as impressive is his sympathetic portrait of Beethoven the man. Swafford's book, which should be placed alongside the excellent biographies by Lewis Lockwood and Maynard Solomon, 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." - Washington Post "Swafford has a knack for bringing in the reader wholly unschooled in the technical vernacular of classical music. That skill is in evidence in this blend of biography and musical assessment. Even if you don't know the difference between a leitmotif and a lighthouse, don't sweat it, for this is, more than anything, a saga of a man at odds with so many things: convention, social mores, himself, women, his family ... If this isn't exactly the Beethoven that Schroeder of 'Peanuts' fame worshiped, it's a more believable characterization, and, more than that, one gets a better sense of how this roiling personality produced works to roil the human soul."- Boston Globe "Magnificent...Some of the most enjoyable segments of his book are the spirited and knowledgeable readings of Beethoven's various compositions. These passages are so passionate that they virtually propel the reader across the room to the CD collection, to play the pieces being so smartly described...A stunning tour de force, a Beethoven biography to shine for a lifetime." -Open Letters Monthly "Monumental...Engaging and entertaining...Beethoven aficionados and lovers of classical music will want this book, as will readers interested in biography and the artistic milieu of late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe."- Library Journal , starred review "A thorough, affectionate, and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)...Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic."- Kirkus , starred review "In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford ( Johannes Brahms ) brings new life to Beethoven."- Publishers Weekly , starred review, "Swafford's craftsmanship shines...The book is two books: a biography and a series of journeys through the music, a travelogue with an excitable professor. Readers will want to have a recording playing so they can match metaphors to sounds. I found myself engaged by his imagery, sometimes delighted and surprised." -Jeremy Denk, New York Times Book Review "A thorough, affectionate and unblinking account of the life of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)..Due to the author's unsurpassed research and comprehension, we stand in the presence of a genius and see all his flawed magic." -- Kirkus , starred review "In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford (Johannes Brahms) brings new life to Beethoven." -- Publishers Weekly , STARRED review
Dewey Edition23
Dewey Decimal780.92 B
Table Of ContentIntroductionxi 1. Bonn, Electorate of Cologne1 2. Father, Mother, Son21 3. Reason and Revolution40 4. Loved in Turn56 5. Golden Age69 6. A Journey and a Death84 7. Bildung95 8. Stem and Book112 9. Unreal City132 10. Chains of Craftsmanship145 11. Generalissimo166 12. Virtuoso186 13. Fate's Hammer207 14. The Good, the Beautiful, and the Melancholy242 15. The New Path269 16. Oh, Fellow Men301 17. Heaven and Earth Will Tremble331 18. Geschrieben auf Bonaparte 370 19. Our Hearts Were Stirred402 20. That Haughty Beauty436 21. Schemes462 22. Darkness to Light484 23. Thus Be Enabled to Create516 24. Myths and Men544 25. My Angel, My Self580 26. We Finite Beings613 27. The Queen of the Night657 28. What Is Difficult697 29. The Sky Above, the Law Within738 30. Qui Venit in Nomine Domini789 31. You Millions826 32. Ars Longa, Vita Brevis857 33. Plaudite, Amici898 Appendix937 Works Cited946 Notes956 Index1056
SynopsisJan 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 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. More than a decade in the making, this will be the standard Beethoven biography for years to come., The definitive book on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven, written by the acclaimed biographer of Brahms and Ives.
LC Classification NumberML410.B4S94 2014
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Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 10 Mar, 2021
A must have for the LVB lover.
Not yet through this wonderful tome, but it clearly belongs atop my other books on LVB. Thank you, Jan Swafford for this prodigious study of the most profound of all classical composers.Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 10 Dec, 2019
More than I expected
This book came in mint condition, very large book, it’s going to take many hours of reading. But looking forward to it!Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
