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A review by brampton
Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford
4.0
This book is really three books in one. It is a biography of Beethoven (as you would expect) but it is also a potted history of Europe from the Enlightenment through the French Revolution until the demise of Napoleon, and it is an analysis of Beethoven’s major pieces of music.
If your history is a bit shaky, and I’ll concede mine is, the potted history is excellent for putting Beethoven and his music in the context of his times.
But the analysis of the music sometimes descends into just enumerating the keys that various pieces pass through and unless you have perfect pitch or a Doctorate of Music it is probably going to be pretty meaningless. I found I tended to skim through those sections. Alternatively there is great value to be had if you can acquire the music and listen as you read, but that elevates reading a book into an act of full time study. And even when I did listen along I still found some things eluded me such as the whereabouts of the “drunken uncle” intruding into the Third Symphony.
But the biography is very comprehensive and Swafford goes to great lengths to explain how Beethoven was influenced by events occurring around him. Although Swafford does tend to tread a fine line between historical accuracy and speculation on occasions. Unfortunately the book opens with such speculation when he describes Beethoven’s baptism which, whilst we know it was a Catholic service and we know the form of the service in use in Bonn at that time, we don’t actually know that the events took place with as much detail as we are given. For all we know the priest drop the baby on its head.
Overall this is a thorough insight into the development of Beethoven’s music throughout his life and it gives one a great understanding of how it evolved. It would also be a valuable reference when researching individual pieces of music when there would be time to listen for all the key changes.
If your history is a bit shaky, and I’ll concede mine is, the potted history is excellent for putting Beethoven and his music in the context of his times.
But the analysis of the music sometimes descends into just enumerating the keys that various pieces pass through and unless you have perfect pitch or a Doctorate of Music it is probably going to be pretty meaningless. I found I tended to skim through those sections. Alternatively there is great value to be had if you can acquire the music and listen as you read, but that elevates reading a book into an act of full time study. And even when I did listen along I still found some things eluded me such as the whereabouts of the “drunken uncle” intruding into the Third Symphony.
But the biography is very comprehensive and Swafford goes to great lengths to explain how Beethoven was influenced by events occurring around him. Although Swafford does tend to tread a fine line between historical accuracy and speculation on occasions. Unfortunately the book opens with such speculation when he describes Beethoven’s baptism which, whilst we know it was a Catholic service and we know the form of the service in use in Bonn at that time, we don’t actually know that the events took place with as much detail as we are given. For all we know the priest drop the baby on its head.
Overall this is a thorough insight into the development of Beethoven’s music throughout his life and it gives one a great understanding of how it evolved. It would also be a valuable reference when researching individual pieces of music when there would be time to listen for all the key changes.