I finished the book yesterday morning. Took me long enough! Partly due to prolonged illness. Partly from the lengthy listening marathons it sometimes triggered. (I'm not one to listen and read at the same time.)
I think quite highly of it. Swafford's strong points are, for me:
I prefer Swafford over the recently read Suchet. Not that I find anything wrong with Suchet. (That Suchet intentionally confines himself to Beethoven the man can be seen as either a plus or minus. I had no problem with it.) Truth to tell, I favor Suchet's treatment of certain individual episodes. But by and large, Swafford's far greater length (roughly 950 pages plus exhaustive appendix compared to Suchet's 370 pages plus short appendix) allows us to better understand what made Beethoven tick...in so far as that's even possible.
In any case, I recommend the book for anyone looking to expand their Beethoven library.
I think quite highly of it. Swafford's strong points are, for me:
- His ability to blend Beethoven's many virtues and sometimes-glaring deficiencies as a human being into a believably convincing whole.
- His blending of man and musician. This is the best book I've read at explaining how B's personal philosophies and day-to-day circumstances affect his musical output.
- His discussion of select individual works. These are often insightful and fascinating. Those with little to no formal music training have little to fear. Swafford confines himself mainly to prose. Yes, there are occasional printed music excerpts. But nowadays one can easily visit YouTube and hear what he refers to, if necessary.
I prefer Swafford over the recently read Suchet. Not that I find anything wrong with Suchet. (That Suchet intentionally confines himself to Beethoven the man can be seen as either a plus or minus. I had no problem with it.) Truth to tell, I favor Suchet's treatment of certain individual episodes. But by and large, Swafford's far greater length (roughly 950 pages plus exhaustive appendix compared to Suchet's 370 pages plus short appendix) allows us to better understand what made Beethoven tick...in so far as that's even possible.
In any case, I recommend the book for anyone looking to expand their Beethoven library.
He had an individualistic, noble look about him, and his portraits from his early 30s show a good looking man to me. Even when he was older he had a noble, distinguished look. I suppose as he never spoke ( maybe too shy? or didn't want to disturb her work) to Fraulien Leise ( so it is said- maybe he said good morning to her who knows...) and as she didn't know who this mysterious German guy was, she got fed up with him. Maybe she wanted him to come over and chat! But fair play to him for trying to help her father, even though that didn't go down well with the villagers.
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