Beethoven in novels, short stories, essays and poetry

[Troels]

Leo Tolstoi, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke and Aldous Huxley mention Beethoven and his music in novels.

Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a poem: On Hearing a Symphony of Beethoven.

Thorkild Bjørnvig, one of the greatist Danish poets of the 20th century, has written a wonderful poem about Beethoven's music.

Klaus Rifbjerg, another fine Danish writer, has written a short story about op. 97.

Any others?

[Peter]

E.M.Forster: Howards End - there is a scene where Helen Schlegel attends a concert of Beethoven's 5th at the Queen's Hall London.


Also T.S.Eliot : The Four quartets

Tradition has it that Eliot had long wanted to write a poem imitating music, an intention confirmed in his essay "The Music of Poetry." The structure of his Quartets, with the introduction of an initial theme and an elaboration and variation on that theme, and a series of movements repeated in each quartet, suggests that he was not only indebted thematically and structurally to music, he was also indebted to the famous quartets of Beethoven for the poem's name.

Michael Tippet wrote "When I asked T.S. Eliot once why he had called his late poems Four Quartets, he told me the title arose from his passionate love and admiration for Beethoven's late quartets."

Eliot's Four Quartets' opening lines:

"Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past . . .
all time is eternally present."

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'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited April 15, 2003).]

[orpheus]

There were recently a series of fictional biographies about Beethoven, I can't remember the athor's name though.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Troels:


Thorkild Bjørnvig, one of the greatist Danish poets of the 20th century, has written a wonderful poem about Beethoven's music.

Do you have an English version of it for us? It would be nice to know this.

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'Man know thyself'

[lysander]

Originally posted by Peter:
Do you have an English version of it for us? It would be nice to know this.

I would be very interested to read an English version of Thorkild Bjornvig's
Beethoven poem. I am almost sure there would be an English translation.

[Troels]

Originally posted by Peter:
Do you have an English version of it for us? It would be nice to know this.

I feared that question! It is almost impossible to produce a fair rendition of a poem in another language.

There are people who learn Danish to be able to read Søren Kierkegaard. Any real lover of Beethoven and of good poetry ought to learn some basic Danish to be able to read Bjørnvig!

[heidi]

Originally posted by orpheus:
There were recently a series of fictional biographies about Beethoven, I can't remember the athor's name though.

I think you are refering to a three volume series titled 'The Last Master' by John Suchet. I have them. It is a fictional biograghy of Beethoven's life and he does specualte greatly, especially in the first volume that depicts his early life.